CELEBRATIOlsr 



OF THE 



HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 



OF THE 



INCORPORATION OF CONWAY, 

MASSACHUSETTS, 



INCLUDING A 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS BY REV. CHARLES B. RICE, 

OF DANVEKS, MASS., 

POEM BY HARVEY RICE, ESQ., 

, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, 

ORATION BY WILLIAM ROWLAND, ESQ., 

OF LYNN, MASS., 

AND THE OTHER EXERCISES OF THE OCCASION. 



NORTHAMPTON: ^^ " 

BRIDGMAN & CHILDS, PUBLISHERS. 
1867. 

rr 



'"^■^ 



NORTHAMPTON : 

TRUMBULL & GERE, STEAM PRINTERS. 



CONWAY CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 



The first settlement in the town of Conway was made October 
20th, 1162. It was proposed in 1862 to celebrate the 100th an- 
niversary of that event by appropriate exercises ; but the criti- 
cal condition of the country at that time, and the absence of so 
many of our young men as were then in the army, sustaining the 
nation against a rebellion which threatened her life, caused many 
of our citizens to feel disinclined to engage in such a celebra- 
tion then. The town was incorporated June 16th, 1767, nearly 
five years after its settlement. When the 100th anniversary of 
this last event drew near, the state of things was greatly chang- 
ed. The great Eebellion had been suppressed, peace was re- 
stored, and prosperity smiled around us. Measures therefore 
were seasonably taken for a public celebration to be held in June 
1867. 

The first action of the town on this subject was on the 6th of 
November, 1866, when the following votes were passed : 

Voted, To take measures for a centennial celebration of the in- 
corporation of the town. 

Voted, To appoint a Committee to make the necessary arrange- 
ments for such a celebration. 

The following gentlemen were chosen to constitute that Com- 
mittee, viz : 

Thomas L. Allis, Consider Arms, John Clary, Asa Howland, 
l^avid C. Rogers, Alvm Dinsmore, Elijah Arms, Charles B Mer- 
ritt, B A Andrews, Consider Field, Earl Guilford, Edwin Cooley, 
John Bradford, Richard Tucker, Austin Rice, E. D. Hamilton, 
Ihos. b. Dickinson, Wm. C. Campbell, R. A Coffin, Charles Par- 
sons Wm. T. Clapp, Wm. A. Howland, and Chelsea Cook. 23 
in all. 

At a Town Meeting held March 4th, 1867, it was voted to ap- 
propriate the sum of 600 dollars to defray the expenses of the 
celebration. 



The first meeting of the Centennial Committee was held, purstl" 
ant to a call from the Chairman, T. L, Allis, at the Town Hall, on 
Tuesday, Nov. 13th, 1866. David C. Rogers was chosen Secre- 
tary. It was then voted : 

That Rev. Charles B. Rice, of Danvers Centre, Mass. be invit- 
ed to deliver a historical address at the approaching anniversary 
of the incorporation of the town. 

That William Howland, Esq. of Lynn, Mass., be invited to 
deliver an Oration. 

That Hon. Harvey Rice, of Cleveland, Ohio, be invited to de- 
liver a Poem. 

These gentlemen are all natives of Conway. 

Voted, That the Secretary notify the above named gentlemen 
of the action of this Committee in respect to them. At a subse- 
quent meeting it was announced, that letters had been received 
from them, signifying their acceptance of their respective appoint- 
ments. 

The Centennial Committee held frequent meetings during the 
Winter and Spring, and in order to facilitate their own action, 
appointed the following sub-committees at different times. 

On method of mviting guests. — R. A. CoflSn, E. D. Hamilton, 
Austin Rice, W. C. Campbell, Richard Tucker, D. C. Rogers, 
andT. S. Dickinson. 

On selection of guests to be invited by the Committee. — D. C. 
Rogers, E. D. Hamilton, T. L. Allis, Charles B. Merritt, Wm. T. 
Clapp and Charles Parsons. 

On Entertainment for the Celebration. — Charles Parsons, Rich- 
ard Tucker, Thomas S. Dickinson, E. D. Hamilton, and D. C, 
Rogers. 

On Centennial Dinner, and place of holding the Celebration. — 
Charles Parsons, Richard Tucker, Edwin Cooley, Wm. T. Clapp, 
and E. D. Hamilton. 

On Finance. — E. D. Hamilton, W. C. Campbell, Charles Par- 
sons. 

On Printing Circulars of Invitation. — D. C, Rogers, R. A. 
Coffin. 

Committee to invite former residents of the town who have no 
relatives now living here. — Asa Howland, John Clary, H. W. 
Billings. 

On Original Odes. — R. A. Coffin. 

On Lumber, for Tables, Seats, (£c.—T. L. Allis, W. C. Camp- 
bell, Alvin Dinsmore, Consider Arms, Consider Field, Charles 



€in Singing, — H. W. Billings. 

On Sentiments to he offered after the Dinner. — E. A, Coffin, D, 
C. Rogers, E, D. Hamilton, Abner Forbes. 

On Order of Exercises for the Celebration, — Richard Tucker, 
Charles Parsons, R. A, Coffin. 

On Decorations. — E. D. Hamilton, Asa Howland, Wm. T. 
Clapp. 

To carry into effect the report of the Committee on Decorations, 
— Lucius Smith, Harvey Townsend, Henry Stearns, D. F. Ham- 
ilton, Charles Parsons, Jr., George W. Flagg, George Rogers, 
H. W. Billings, and Elijah Arms. 

As the 100th anniversary of the incorporation of the town 
would occur on Sunday, it was 

Voted, That the Celebration take place on Wednesday, the 
19th of June. 

The following votes were also passed at different times : 

That the Secretary be requested to correspond with such cler- 
gymen as are natives of the town, or have been settled therein, 
asking their attendance at the Celebration, 

That the general subject of invitation be left with each family, 
to invite and entertain such persons as they may choose, and that 
a Committee of 6 be chosen to invite such persons as they may 
judge expedient, who have no relatives here. 

That the Committee on the Centennial Dinner, be directed to 
confer with Amos Stetson with reference to his providing a Din- 
ner for the Celebration. 

That the same Committee be instructed to find how many tick- 
ets for the Dinner can be sold, or guaranteed by the citizens of 
the town. 

That the Committee on Finance be authorized to draw on the 
Town Treasurer, from time to time, for such funds as may be 
needed from the sum appropriated by the Town for the Celebra- 
tion. 

That a Tent be procured for the accommodation of those who 
partake of the Centennial Dinner. 

That the services of the Shelburne Falls Cornet Band be pro- 
cured for the occasion. 

That the Committee on Music be directed to procure such 
martial music as they shall deem expedient in addition to the 
Band, and that Amos Stetson be added to said Committee for 
that purpose. 



That the Committee on Order of Exercises procure the print' 
ing of 2,000 copies of the same for distribution. 

That D. C. Eogers be appointed President of the Day. 

That Thomas S. Dickinson be Marshal of the Day, with power 
to appoint such assistants as he may choose. 

That the Fire Company be requested to act as Escort for the 
procession. 

That the order of the procession be left to the President of the 
Day, and the Marshal. 

The Marshal appointed the following persons as his assist- 
ants : — 

Wm. T. Clapp, Lansford Batchelder, Gorham Hamilton, Alph- 
eus G. Bates, Edwin Cooley, T. L. Allis, Carlos Batchelder, Wil- 
liam B. Fay, Ebenezer Ames, Jr., Lucian Eldridge, S. P. Sher- 
man, Austin Drake, L. T. Brown, Gideon Jordan, Joseph C. 
Wing, Nicholas L. Green, Wm. H. Kaulback. 



The day of the celebration dawned very inauspiciously. Many 
eyes watched with anxiety the dense clouds which covered the 
morning sky, and which threatened greatly to mar, if not wholly 
to destroy the pleasures of the day. But about 6 o'clock the 
clouds began to disperse, and soon the sun shone out brightly. 
The day proved to be one of the loveliest of our beautiful June 
days. The previous rain had laid the dust, the air was pure and 
exhilarating, the trees and the fields were arrayed in their richest 
garb of verdure, and the beautiful grove in which the exercises 
were held, seemed alive with a concert of bird melody. 

At sunrise the bells were rung, and a salute was fired from a 
cannon placed on Prospect Hill, near the village and overlooking 
most of it. At Y o'clock, A. M. , a procession was formed, led by 
the Greenfield Drum Corps, and consisting of a cavalcade of gen- 
tlemen headed by the oldest male citizen of the town, Mr. Ama- 
riah Thwing (90 years old,) and Gen. Asa Howland, now in his 
80th year. Mr. Thwing was dressed in the old continental uni- 
form, a fac-simile of that worn by Gen. Washington. Gen. How- 
land wore the same chapeau, plume, and belt that he wore, while 
commanding a division in 1825, and some subsequent years. 
Both of these aged veterans rode erect and trim, and with a con- 
fident, easy horsemanship, which would put to shame many of 



the riders belonging to the present degenerate generation. Fol- 
lowing the cavalcade was a long vehicle, decorated with ever- 
greens and drawn by two yoke of oxen. In this were a number 
of men and women dressed in antique costume, who were busi- 
ly engaged in various industrial employments, belonging to olden 
times, such as breaking and swingling flax, carding and spinning 
flax and wool, making ropes, &c., &c. This was followed by a 
carriage with several girls in it, dressed in white, and employed 
in different kinds of fancy work now fashionable. After this 
came " the old one-horse sha," containing a couple dressed in 
antique style, and next a gentleman and lady on horseback, the 
lady seated on a pillion, and the gentleman carrying the baby. — 
Lastly came a team, drawing an elm tree of considerable size. 
The procession, after marching through the principal streets of 
the village, repaired to the site of the first school-house erected 
in town, about one-fourth of a mile south of the Congregational 
church, and there, after a few appropriate remarks by Rev, 
Charles B. Rice, the Selectmen set out the elm tree, which, it is 
hoped, will live long enough to form a connecting link between 
the first and the second centennial celebration of the town's in- 
corporation." 

At an early hour the stars and stripes were displayed at both 
churches, and at various other points in the village. Over Main 
street, near the Bank, hung a large flag, bearing on one side the 
motto, " Our fallen heroes, in grateful remembrance, and our 
living, we honor," and on the other side, " Our past glory em- 
blem of future Faith." An evergreen arch spanned the bridge 
near the Post OflSce, having on the east side the words, " Wel- 
come Home," and on the west side, " Conway welcomes her 
children." 

At 9 o'clock, A. M., a procession was formed on the Green in 
the eastern part of the village. This procession moved to Arms' 
Grove, the place selected for the out-door exercises, in the fol- 
lowing order, viz : 

Chief Marshal. 

Shelburne Falls Cornet Band. 

Greenfield Drum Corps. 

President and Speakers of the Day. 

Clergy. 

Committee of Arrangements, 

Citizens and Strangers. 



8 

The procession was escorted by the Conway Fire Department, 
dressed in their appropriate and tasteful uniform. At the en- 
trance to the lot leading to the grove, was an evergreen arch, 
with the motto, " Gate to the Mysteries of a Century " on the 
eastern side, and on the western side, " From the Past learn 
Wisdom." At the entrance to the grove was another evergreen 
arch, bearing the mottoes, " Love links the Ages " and " Honor 
our Fathers." 

The grove is a delightful place for such a gathering, being free 
from underbrush, and with its trees sufficiently near each other 
to make a pleasant shade, and sufficiently distant from each oth- 
er to permit the growth of grass and flowers beneath them. The 
land slopes to the east, and on the western border is a barrier of 
rocks, 20 or 30 feet high, and nearly perpendicular. On the 
eastern side a platform had been erected, with seats in front of it 
extending up the slope, sufficient to accommodate over 2,000 
persons. Over the platform the stars and stripes hung in beauti- 
ful folds, and at the foot was an evergreen motto, " 1167, — Thus 
far hath the Lord led us, — ISGT. 

Every seat in the grove was soon filled, and a large number 
were obliged to stand. It is estimated that more than 3,000 per- 
sons were present. — The President of the Day, D. C. Rogers, 
opened the services by calling on Rev, David Pease, the oldest 
living ex-clergyman of Conway, to offer prayer. Mr. Pease not 
having yet arrived, an appropriate and earnest prayer was offer- 
ed by Rev. M. G. Wheeler, the next oldest ex-clergyman. A 
brief introductory address was then made by the President of the 
Day. The citizens of Conway, he said, have long wished to 
have a family gathering of this kind. It was proposed in 1862, 
but the troubles connected with the late war prevented the ac- 
complishment of the design. We have now decided to celebrate 
the hundredth anniversary of the birthday of our town, and have 
accordingly invited all her sons and daughters to be present. 
We are happy to see so many here, and extend to them all a cor- 
dial welcome. Some, who went from us a few years ago to aid 
in the defence of our common country, now lie buried in the sun- 
ny south, and many hearts are sad at the thought that we shall 
meet them no more on earth. Others have returned enfeebled 
by disease, or shattered by wounds, to die at home, and we have 
had the mournful pleasure of consigning their mortal remains to 
the tomb in the midst of old friends and acquaintances. Others 



9 

still have returned in safety, and now gladden many hearts by 
their presence here. This day will long be remembered by us 
We greet you all with a hearty welcome. 

The following Ode, written by R. A. Coffin, A. M., was then 
sung by the audience, accompanied by the Band : — 

Children of Conway, far and near, 

Tour mother calls you home : 
From east and west, from north and south, 

She bids her children come ; 
And lo, responsive to her call, 

Ye come from many a clime 
To meet her smiles once more, and view 

The scenes of oldentimes. 

<!hobus.— We welcome you ! we welcome you ! 
Our hearts and hands we join ; 
God bless you all, as we recall 
The days of " auld lang syne." 

Te come from where the Atlantic surge 

Beats on the sounding shore : 
From where, o'er wild Niagara's verge, 

The western waters pour. 
And who can tell what varied thoughts 

In different hearts hold sway. 
As this expectant, gathering crowd. 

Assembled here to-day. 

Chorus. — We welcome you, &c. 

Some, on whose brows the star of hope 

Shines sweetly, brightly down. 
And some who've drunk of sorrow's cup 

And met her sternest frown ; 
Some, like a ship by furious winds 

And angry tempests driven, 
And some who calmly wait the hour 

Of peace and rest in heaven. 

Chorus.— We welcome you ! &c. 

The same proud hills around us rise, 

The same bright waters flow. 
As when our grandsires trod these fields 

A hundred years ago ; 
We'll tell the tales of other days, 

We'll talk of years gone by. 
And blend with many a sainted name 

Hopes that will never die. 

Chorus. —We welcome you, &c. 



10 

We'll speak of those whose virtues shine 

Far down the lapse of years, 
Like stars, to guide our onvrard steps 

To brighter, holier spheres ; 
We'll bid the voice of fervent prayer 

Rise, — with the thankful strain. 
That all the blessings that we share 

May not be shared in vain. 

Chobus. — ^And thus on this centennial day 
Our hearts and hands we join : 
God bless us all, as we recall 
The days of " auld lang syne." 

Tliore was then delivered the following Historical Address, by 
Charles B, Rice, of Conway, preacher in Danvers, Mass.: — 



MR. RICE'S ADDRESS. 



PKEFATORY NOTE. 

Not more than half of what is here printed, was made use of on the day of the 
public commemoration. But the form of the address has been preserved ; 
and references to the place of assembly, are retained. 

It is a matter of regret to the wi'iter of this sketch, that he has not been able 
to prepare it in greater fullness. For its accuracy, as it is now put forth, he can 
only say that he has endeavored to use faithfully all the materials of knowledge 
that could be found. It is too much to hope that no errors have crept in. But 
the reader will not, perhaps, set down at once as erroneous, every statement which 
may at first appear so. 

As to authorities, next to the Records of the town, the most valuable written 
documents bearing on its history, are the half century sermon of Rev. John Emer- 
son, preached in 1819, and a historical address delivered in 1845, by the late Capt. 
Otis Childs, before an "Association of farmers and mechanics." The latter es- 
pecially, is of very great value. And with the consent, and according indeed to 
the wish of the respected author, often expressed to me, I have drawn from it 
with freedom, as will appear, for the use of the present occasion. 

Persons now Living, too numerous to mention, have also in various ways con- 
tributed much. 



I 



ADDRESS. 



The settlement of Conwaj was begun in 1T62. Most of 
tlie adjoining towns were entered upon before that time. 
Deerfield, which had then been occupied nearly one hundred 
years, owed its early planting to the attraction of its rich 
meadows, uncovered of forests and ready at once for cultiva- 
tion. It was possible also there, and in the other meadow 
towns, to establish settlements sufficiently compact to offer 
some defense against the Indians. The savage war cry, ring- 
ing through the valley for nearly all that hundred years, and, 
but just then ceasing to be heard had kept back the peopling 
of the hill country westward. And for the occupation of 
some towns at the north and west at dates a little earlier than 
that of Conway, it was due to the greater efforts of those 
township proprietors to give value to the lands they owned by 
establishing settlements upon them. 

At the time of its settlement, this region now bearing the 
name Conway, was included within the limits of Deerfield. 
The first record we have relating to it occurs May 28, 1712. 
At that time the general Court for the State, in answer to a 
petition of Eev. John Williams, enlarged the territory of 
Deerfield by allowing it to extend " nine miles westward in- 
to the western woods." The nine miles were not wholly in 
the new grant, but included the previous width of the town 
from east to west. Before this, the west line of Deerfield 
was what it is now. The territory thus conveyed was nearly 
the same that is now embraced in Conway and Shelburne. 
The southern portion of it came to be known as " South 
West District," or ''South West;" and it was also some- 



14 

times called "Deerfieldcominoris." Arrangements were made 
in 1753 by the township proprietors lor the division ot the 
district into lots, preparatory to its settlement. The survey 
was made beginning on the western or Ashheld line ; and the 
town appears at hrst to have been divided by tour parallel 
"roads," stretching from JNorth to tSouth across its entire 
length, into eight ranges, each 200 rods in width, which 
ranges were to be sub-divided by jEast and W est lines, 
l^othing came ol these "roads," which were laid out six 
rods wide; and the w-hole survey underwent such readjust- 
ments that the lots, as finally ottered tor sale, were 210 
rods in length from Last to IVest, and 100 rods in width, con- 
taining 150 acres. 

There was much controversy with Huntstown, now Ashheld, 
concerning the western boundary. Twice the Deertield and 
Oonway men got the worst ot the matter in law, and were 
compelled to di-aw in their lines. They never felt easily as to 
the way this business was settled, and unquestionably we 
ought to believe that tbey were wa'onged. The owners on 
the West side who sulfered loss received compensation in oth- 
er lands. It is observed by r'liny Arms, Esq., of Deerheld, 
who touches on this point in his valuable Historical lecture, 
that the Hoosac larm, now owned by Consider Arms was 
probably acquired by his grandfather Consider in this way. 

in December of the same year, 1753, appears the tirst sign 
looking towards actual settlement in Conway, The proprie- 
tors made a grant to J ohn Blackmore of ten acres of laud for 
a mill spot " at a place just before the crotch of JSouth Kiver •" 
there being a condition that he should build within tw^elve 
months. But it can not be learned that John Blackmore pro- 
ceeded any further with this enterprise. The j)lace itself 
where he meant to build, any one tamiliar with the course 
of South River and the force of prepositions may be compe- 
tent now to discover. 

In 1754 a county road was laid out across the District 
from East to "West. This road, to which further reference 
will be made, had respect at this time solely to the use of the 
Huntstown settlers. It remained for years a mere path. 



IS 

In 1763 it was voted by Deerfield to raise four pounds 
" towards building a bridge over South Kiver, and making 
the County road adjacent to the same." A rude bridge 
was probably soon thrown across, and some work done on 
the banks to make it accessible. 

After South-west began to be peopled, we find that an al- 
lowance was made for the schooling of the children M^ho lived 
too far away to attend at the " Town Plat." 

Early in 1767 the inhabitants had become numerous enough 
to wish for a separate organization ; and they petitioned to 
that effect. Deerfield agreed to the petition, and proposed 
the boundries of the new town as follows : " East upon the 
seven mile line, so called, until it comes to Deerfield River ; 
West, upon Ashfleld bounds, or the west line of Deerfield ; 
South, upon Hatfield bounds," (where Whately and Williams- 
burg now are), " JSTorth, partly upon Deerfield line, until it 
comes to the North-west Division, so-called ;" (that is, until 
it strikes the Shelburne line,) " and thence by said North-west 
Division until it comes to the West line of the town."* 

On the lltJi of June in the same year Conway was incor- 
porated by act of the General Court. It is this event the 
hundredth anniversary of which we celebrate to-day.f 



* The South line of North-west Division, or Shelburne, was not then as now on 
the Deerfield river ; which, indeed might be inferred from the above record. It 
was a straight line, crossing the river near Bardwell's Ferry, (some distance below 
the new railroad bridge now building, and below the now projected County 
bridge,) and passing westerly with a deviation to the South, over Bear river, 
near Charles Macomber's, and South of Consider Field's to the Ashfleld line ; 
embracing thus in Shelburne a section of Bloomshire and nearly all of Shirk- 
shire. This territory was annexed to Conway by act of General Coui-t, Feb. 19th, 
1781. The South bank of Deerfield river is now the north line of Conway. 
A part of the North-west section was given to Buckland in 1838. 

It may here be added that the notch on the South-eastern comer of the town 
was made by the setting off from Deerfield of certain lots in 1791. 

t -The date has been heretofore given erroneously June 16th. The act, though 
"passed " the day before, did not receive the signature of the Governor and be- 
come of force until the 17th. This error had not been discovered when the pre- 
liminary arrangements for the celebration were made. And because June 16th 
fell on Sunday, and for the convenience also of a day near the middle of the week, 
Wednesday the 19th, was chosen. 



16 

The town took its name from Gen. Henry Conway, then a 
member of the British ministry, and popular in the Colonies 
as having been government leader in the House of Commons 
at the repeal of the Stamp Act. Gen. Conway was a 
brave soldier, and a well meaning, though not an able states- 
man. 

The General Court had authorized Elijah Williams, " One 
of His Majesties' justices of the peace for the County of 
Hampshire," to issue his warrant " to some Principle Inhabi- 
tant " of Conway, requiring him to warn the qualified voters 
to meet for the choice of town officers. This warrant bears 
date Aug. 8th, 1767 ; and is the first document appearing on 
the records of the town. 

The first town meeting tlius provided for was held on Mon- 
day, Aug. 24tli, at the house" of Thomas French, Innholder. 
The following is the list of the officers elected : Consider 
Arms, Moderator and Town Clerk ; Cyrus Kice, Constable ; 
Thomas French, Consider Arms, and Samuel Wells, Select- 
men and Assessors ; Consider Arms, Town Treasurer ; Israel 
Gates, Thomas French and Joel Baker Surveyors of Highways ; 
David Parker, Tythingman ; Elisha Amsden, Warden ; Thom- 
as French and Simeon Graves, Fence viewers ; Silas Pawson, 
Scaler of Leather ; Ebenezer Allis, Sealer of Weights and 
Measures ; Joseph Catlin and Joel Baker, Hog-reefs ; Cyrus 
Rice, Deer-reef; James Gilmtre and Josiah Boyden, Hay- 
wards ; David Parker and Ebenezer Allis, Surveyors of Lum- 
ber. — The deer were soon gone from the forests, and the offi- 
cial list has been otherwise somewhat changed, but since that 
day the soil has never ceased to bring forth men willing to 
fill these stations ; and the succession has not failed. 

Having thus reached a spot where the town has an organi- 
zation and a name, we may properly stop to gather up some 
facts of interest with respect to its earliest inhabitants. 

The town, as was to have been expected, was first occupied 
upon its eastern border and within the district now known as 
" East Side." Here, upon the slope of the hill looking to- 
wards Deerfield, was the farm and dwelling house of Cyrus 



17 

Rice, the first settler of Conway.* Mr. Rice was from Barre. 

His house was upon the south side of an old and now unused 
road that led from the vicinity of John Field's, past the place 
lately occupied by Bradley Packard, to the present county 
road a little distance above the old tavern stand long known 
as the Hawley place. The first house was about twenty-five 
rods southeast of the spot now marked by an ancient cellar 
with bricks and rubbish, on which the family afterwards lived. 
A mound of stones has lately been raised on the original site.f 
Here, as already mentioned, occurred the fibrst death in our 
town. Here also was born the first child of Conway — Beulah 
Rice. The family had also sons ; one of them, Stephen, became 
the father of the poet of this occasion, who is thus a lineal de- 
scendant of the first man. 

Other settlers soon followed. A half mile south of Mr. 
Rice was Israel Gates (Barre):]; on a spot now occupied near 
the house of Cephas May. Still southward was the first 

* There is a conflict of authorities as to the time of his coming. Mr. Emerson 
puts it in 1762. Capt. Childs makes it to have been in 1763. I was once led by 
some indications to follow him, and fix upon in later years. It is upon my state- 
ment to that eftect that Dr. Holland gives the date in his " History of Western 
Massachusetts." But besides the weight due to the authority of the older witness, 
there are facts incidentally mentioned by Mr. Emerson that seem decisive. He says 
that the wife of Mr. Rice died soon after his coming to Conway, that she was bur- 
ied in Deerfield, and that his daughter Beulah, was the child of a second wife . 
Now Beulah is known to have been born Jan. 10, 1764. If, therefore Mr. Rice 
was not in Conway previous to January of 1763, we must suppose, first, that he 
moved here in the dead of winter ; and second that within the first quarter of that 
year he went through, besides the removal itself, with the sickness, death and burial 
of one wife and the courtship and mai-riage of another. Either of these supposi- 
tions is too unlikely to be easily credited. 

Since writing the above I have been shown a communication in the Conway 
" Farmers' Register," giving the date Oct., 1762. This confirms the already well 
settled conclusion. The probability is that Mr. Rice came early in 1762 ; cleared 
land, planted crops and prepared a house, — brought his family in the fall, and Mrs. 
Rice soon dying, married again in the following spring. 

•f- Mr. Alonzo Rice of Deerfield, a grandson of Cyrus Rice, was able to point out 
the exact spot ; contributing thus, as many others whose names can not be men- 
tioned, have been forward to do, to the preservation of these ancient memories. 

J The place from whence the settlers came, when known to me, will be given in 
parenthesis. 

3 



18 

house of Josiah ^oyden (Grafton), a revolutionary soldier, and 
probably the second man to come. His son David was the 
first boy the town had. And a daughter Mary, born Aug. 
24th 1767, — the day of the first town meeting, and afterwards 
the wife of Medad Crittenden, is still living among us and is 
the oldest inhabitant of Conway. Not far ofi* were John 
Wing and Elijah May, neither of them of the very earliest; 
and also, probably, David Parker. Half a mile west of Cyrus 
Rice, where John Field now lives, was James Dickinson 
(Somers). Northwest from him was John Bond (Grafton), 
and farther on westerly, at the top of the hill, Jonas Rice 
(Grafton), where his descendant Joel still lives. South of 
Jonas Rice, on a road now closed, was John Boyden (Grafton), 
a revolutionary soldier. And northwest again from James 
Dickinson was Joseph Catlin(Deerfield), near by the present 
Josiah Boyden's. In his barn Mr. Emerson preached his 
first sermon. And here, still earlier were baptised at one 
time seven infant children. 

North of this eastern district, and where is now the great 
elm he planted, and at the place now occupied by Madison 
Stearns, lived Lieut. Robert Hamilton (Barre), long a soldier 
in the Revolution,* Beyond, over the Hoosac hill, Consider 
Arms owned the land and sent his son Henry later to live 
upon it, where another Consider, grandson of the first, now 
is. Northwestward was George Stearns, father of all the 
Stearnses. Further on Dea. Caleb Rice, moving afterward to 
the top of Arms' hill, and to Genesee ; and beyond him Silas 
Rawson. And still westward, Dea. Joel Baker (Sunderland) 
building soon, for Dennis Childs of the present time, what is 
now the oldest and what was probably the first framed house 
in Conway. Here is the oldest apple tree and the first tree 
in the town to bear fruit, which oldest tree is also found in 
other locations. South of Joel Baker, where Dexter Bartlett 
now lives, was Adoniram Bartlett, father of many Bartletts and 
authors of much wit ; moving afterwards to the east of Rob- 



* Robert Hamilton planted his elms in 1770. One has long since fallen, struck 
with the lightning. The tree still standing is now 18 feet in circumference, and 
it spreads its branches over a circle of more than 100 feet in diameter. 



19 

ert Hamilton. And next towards the center Dea. Jonathan 
Root (Montague) and Daniel Stow, prominent but not early 
settlers. Half a mile north, near Morris Brown's, was John 
Thwing (Bristol, R. I.). Northwest from thence at John 
Clary's, Benjamin Pulsifer soon lighted for a little before 
his later settlement at the east side. A little below was Tim- 
othy Thwing, son of John, planting apple trees for his own and 
the Broomshire orchards on the place which the family still 
keep. Amariah, son of Timothy, is with us to day, the old- 
est man in our town, having his mind yet clear, and with his 
natural force not spent. 

Beyond the river, in Broomshire, was Israel Rice (Grafton), 
where Austin Rice now lives, and northward in the order of 
the present houses Timothy Rice (Grafton), Theophilas 
Page (Conn.), Wm. Warren (Grafton), John Batchelder, on 
the town farm, and a half mile beyond, where a cellar now 
remains, Nathaniel Goddard (Grafton). East of Israel itice 
were John Broderick and Michael Turpey (Ireland). And 
southeast for a time, John Sherman (Shrewsbury), father of 
Caleb and John, where John B. Stearns now lives. 

Israel Rice and Wm. Warren were the first of these set- 
tlers. Mr. Warren with the father of Mr. Rice .explored the 
neighborhood and bought lands in 1762, the year of Cyrus 
Rice's coming. Two years later William and Israel undertook 
to visit their estates, but losing the former track up the Deer- 
field and striking the sharp banks of the South River at or 
below the point of Hoosac they could not cross and went back 
disconcerted. The next jesn' they efl:ected a landing, cross- 
ing near the present bridge, and prepared, Mr. Rice the 
frame, Mr. Warren the logs, for a house. In 1766 they brought 
their families. One hung sheets over his frame for his bed- 
room, the other spread bark over his logs, whereupon it rained 
twelve days. 

Jumping over Broomshire hill to the north end of "West 
street," we find Samuel Newhall (Leicester) where Joseph New- 
hall now lives. South towards the four corners, David Harring- 
ton, with his son Jason, a Revolutionary soldier. West by Wm. 
Stearns, Jonathan Smith (his son living later by the Broom- 



20 

shire ferry). Westward still over the hill, Dea. Caleb Allen, on 
a fine slope that keeps his name ; and northwesterly James 
Warren (on the Tobey place). Returning to the main road, 
at the Harding place was Daniel Newhall (Leicester), popu- 
larly called "Wig Newhall," revolutionary soldier, father of 
the Daniel of stories and humorous memory, and of other 
Daniels in long succession, though gone from Conway. 
Westward again, Capt. Prince Tobey, and over the brow of 
the hill, where Rodolphus Rice now lives, Jabez Newhall 
(Leicester). South again on the main track from Daniel 
Newhall were Horton, David Whitney, (Grafton or LTpton) 
gone to be first settler of Phelps, IST. Y., and later, perhaps, 
Benjamin Wells, where George Stearns now is. 

Rising the hill by the old road, we pass on the left the 
spot on which John Emerson built his house and set his elms 
in 1770 : — we may find Abner Forbes, Esq., sitting under the 
shadow of his trees. And if now we are tired or thirsty, the 
house of Capt. Thomas French, "Innholder," is in sight upon 
the flat, two thirds of the way up Arms' hill before us.'^ This 
"Principle Inhabitant " of Conway walked to the Deerfield 
line on his own land,t went into ofiice-holding beyond any 
other man, wrote his name in great letters, " Test. Thomas 
French " on the town book, fell into idleness, cheated the 
Continental government in salt, took to the lawyers, forged, 
sat in the pillory and died a vagabond. ]S"ot waiting with 
him, we may look up if we can his brother Tertius ; and find 
Nathaniel Field, not far, it is to be guessed, from the foot of 
Arms' hill, west of the Baptist meeting house. Down on 
" the Flat," uncertain where, we may search for Asa Merrit, 
great-grandfather of Charles of West street. On the hill beyond, 
northeast of Charles Parsons, we may call on Jonathan Whit- 
ney, at the house, now gone, where town meetings were often 
held. 

*This house, as Samuel Flagg has it from his father, was afterward trundled 
down the hill to a site a little northeast of the Baptist meeting house, where it 
now stands, occupied by Morris Brown. 

tTraditionally. 



21 

Over all the land that can be seen from this point in every 
direction, but especially, it may be guessed, on a site a little 
to the east of Jonathan Whitney's, lives Caleb Sharp. He is 
half negro and half "Indian, or something else," it is said, 
which last statement may be rested in. He is a vigorous 
man, a builder of saw mills and grist mills ; and has already 
before or by the incorporation of the town, a grain mill 
running where the mill now stands. With him will presently 
appear his successor "Black Csesar*" (Caesar Wood), in later 
times " Saxton and Grave Diger," who also, as the ancient 
memories tell us, "did every sort of a thing." After him soon 
is coming, third in the line, Asahel Wood, " respected by every 
body old and young," and again, fourth in succession, Thomas 
Cole, who will continue to the first centennial.f 

Turning south, towards where the Congregational meeting- 
house now stands, Aaron Howe will shoe our horses, or Major 
James Davis, if we have not passed him before by the Baptist 
meeting-house, and if wherever he is we can find his shop, 
will tap our boots. — A questionable matter, for he is the man 
whose newly put on sole Adoniram Bartlett lost from his 
foot, "Carelessly," as he said, "because he took it from the 
stirrup." If we wait a little this Davis will leave his shop for 
the continental army. Still southward and west of the road 
as we go into Pumpkin Hollow we pass the log houses of Joel 
and Elias Dickinson, the latter the owner of the " center lot " 
and living in Jabez Newhall's garden. Elijah Wells calls to 
us from the western hill; by H. B. Childs, and Gersham 
Farnsworth shortly on the other ear. But hastening out of 
this swamp, the best part of which Jonas Eice would not take 
at twenty cents an acre, though for the rest of his lot he gave 
a dollar, and running up Field's Hill, we pass near the summit 
Alexander Oliver, a Lieutenant in the army of the Eevolution, 



*Two negroes bore then that great name. Another lived in Hoosac. It was 
concerning him that the story has reached us how one of the Arms family being 
inquired of respecting the authority his brother had in Hoosac, made answer that 
"Henry had been Governor there ever since the death of Caesar." 

t This is a derivation of energy and morals,— otherwise "Tom," was a fugitive 
slave from New York- 



22 

and Robert Oliver, and James Oliver, a tory refugee and one 
of the three that the town furnished that went away with the 
British. Under the hill south is Capt. James Look (Martha's 
Vineyard, 1768). We may hurry as best we can through 
Hardscrabble, by Elisha Clark on the west side, and by 
Ebenezer AUis at the Fairfield place; and beyond at the 
southeast we will halt at the always hospitable stand where 
John Allis now lives by the home of his grandfather, Capt. 
Lucius, (Soraers, Conn). Here if the Davis boots have failed 
others may be borrowed, for Capt. Allis has a pair of fashiona- 
ble ones, or rather the only pair in the district, which he 
lends to his neighbors when they go a journey in style. 

Capt. Allis was a principal inhabitant. Besides his boots 
he had one of the only two carts that for twenty years were 
known beyond Field's Hill. And over and above boots and 
cart he had some public spirit. He bought, it is said, and 
gave to the town the common by the old church. Withal he 
rode at first seven miles, Sundays, to the Deerfield meeting, 
horseback, with his wife, and with a child in the arms of each. 
And with many other Conway men, he helped take Burgoyne. 

A half mile southeast were Elijah Wells and Matthew and 
Simeon Graves (Whately). And a like distance, more to the 
north, James Gilmore, where Israel and Thomas L. Allis, of 
the Capt. Lucius stock, now live. Still beyond, on the edge 
of Whately, at the Foote place, Samuel Wells, where was a 
hotel. Westward again a mile from Capt. Allis, and on the 
present Whately road, was Amos Allen, " Capt. Barefoot." 
He fought in the war of the revolution. He needed to borrow 
no boots. He got his commission and his title coming from 
the army over the Green Mountains with bare feet in four 
inches of snow. 

Passing west to Cricket Hill, we find Capt. Abel Dinsraore, 
a revolutionary soldier, where his grandson, Alvan Dinsmore, 
now lives. William Gates was his next neighbor at the north. 
Southwest was Gideon Cooley. He brought his wife and all 
his other goods on the back of a horse ; and the wife filled her 
bed-tick with the leaves of the wood. Not far oflT was Nathan- 
iel Marble, Going to the Northwest we pass the farm of Dea. 



23 

John Avery (Dedham), now uninhabited, but stoutly occupied 
for two generations, and reach the stand of Malachi Maynard 
(Westboro), where his daughter Lucy and his son-in-law Ze- 
lotes Bates now live. 

The town had men on the hill in those days, and later, 
Malachi Maynard was a genuine old Kew Englander and a 
puritan, and a good specimen of both ; strong in body and 
in mind resolute, independent, upright, religious, staying put 
in his place. He had but six weeks schooling, was twenty-six 
years town treasurer, figured in his head and figured right, 
and settled right after he had figured. 

South of Malachi Maynard Was Solomon Goodale. North- 
ward was Samuel Crittenden, in 1772, father of Medad 
Crittenden ; a name still kept among us by the memories it 
brings of a life manifestly growing though all its long later 
years into the likeness of the life that is to come. 

Looking from Cricket Hill toward the Southwest at the 
date of the Incorporation, there was probably no settler's 
house to be seen. (Indeed it may not be quite certain that 
there was one on the Hill itself at that time. Mr. May- 
nard came in 17^8). Isaac Nelson may probably have been 
the earliest. Richard Collins was where Hiram Collins now 
lives as early as 1770. Solomon Hartwell (Dedham) was soon 
planted north of John Bradford's. Also two brothers of 
Malachi Maynard, Moses and Calvin: one south of John 
Bradford, the other north of Edward Bradford. Ebenezer 
Tolman was here in 1772. Twenty years later there were 
farms still uncleared in the districts that have since become 
" city." So late as that Shubael and John Bradford were first 
occupants. Caleb Beals was early in Poland, north of the 
Lucius Bond place. Also Jonathan Oakes upon the Chester 
Wrisley place. And Ebenezer, another of the Maynards, 
upon the Capt. Phillips' farm, with Reuben Hendricks hard 
by him. And far northwest across the river, still a fifth May- 
nard brother, Timothy, living but four years ago, ninety-nine 
years old. 

Coming down the valley we are near by at the house of Capt. 
Consider Arms, (Deerfield) the opposite side of the road from 



24 

the one now occupied by the Arms family. Consider Arras 
was one of the earliest settlers in the limits of the town, one of 
the greatest landowners, a leading public man, and everyway a 
"principle inhabitant." 

Passing again our grove and the Inn of Capt. French, and 
over the Arms hill northwest, by the Goddard who brought 
the boy, Eleazar Flagg, to the place where Samuel Flagg now 
lives, and past the neighbors Stebbins, Whittemore, and 
Woodward, all later comers, we go down upon the large farms 
of Isaac and Elisha Amsden (Deerfield), now occupied by 
Walter and Earl Guildford. Beyond them the settlement, 
as at the southwest, was somewhat later, Solomon Field 
(Surrey, W. H.) was of the first, in 1YY2 or 1773. He was the 
man who killed the bear who gave his name to the river that 
is called Bear River, His grandson. Consider, still keeps the 
place, Near by him toward the south were Jesse Severance and 
Zadac King, Toward the east Sylvanus Cobb (Deerfield) at 
Charles Macomber's, and northward Samuel Wilder (Deer- 
field), Aholiab Wilder, and farther on Wm, Halloway and 
Seth Godfrey ; none of these last, perhaps, first settlers ; and 
returning from the north school house, ISTathan Bacon, and 
still later, though himself the son of an early inhabitant, where 
Ryder had lived, in the center of the district and the central 
man, Caleb Sherman. 

There were doubtless some other early settlers whose names 
are not here mentioned, but there can have been but few 
such. On the other hand some of those whose names are 
given, though for the most part the first occupants of their 
farms, were relatively late in coming. Dividing the town 
by a line from Broomshire through the center to the South 
Part, the eastern half contains almost all that were on the 
ground at the date of the incorporation. 

The number of families was about fifty, and the whole 
population, 'the households being then small did not much if 
at all exceed two hundred. 

These were the men, who, as Mr. Emerson writes, had come 
in, " planted themselves down on new and unimproved spots 
of land, and with small property but good resolution com- 



25 

menced the arduous but honest and respectable business of 
earning their bread by the sweat of their brow." They were, 
with a few exceptions, very poor at their coming. They 
were not well furnished with tools nor with animals for farm 
work. Wm. Warren's apparatus consisted of one cow, one 
axe, one hoe, one chain and one "bung-town copper," It was 
usual to go to Deerfield or Hatfield to hire cattle for plowing, 
or other team work. It was not for several years that a man 
commonly owned either oxen or a horse. During this period 
it was customary to carry grain to mill upon the back. One 
bushel was the usual load. There are many accounts, howev- 
er, of larger quantities having been carried from great distances. 
Amos Allen (" Capt. Barefoot") brought two bushels of rye 
from Hatfield, taking it but once from his shoulder, and that 
at the mill where it was to be ground ; other acccounts 
resolutely put it at three bushels. Malachi Maynard 
also brought from Hatfield, in bags, nineteen shad and two 
pigs, the pigs being of considerable size. He rested at mid- 
night on the top of Popple Hill, leaning against a tree, and 
fearing to remove his load lest he could not replace it. He used 
to say that " he was more glad at breakfast for those shad 
than ever after for all the income of his farm." 

Our fathers made up thus in vigor and resolution for the 
lack of means. So too did the mothers. Mrs. Joel Baker 
built her own oven, which did good service for herself and her 
neighbors, her husband providing stones and mortar. The wife 
of Alexander Oliver, on the top of Field's Hill, was accustomed 
in summer to do her washing at the brook, one hundred rods 
north, down the steep slope. Having finished the work, 
Capt. Childs tells us, ' she would take her two pails of wet 
clothes, one in each hand, her baby under her arm, and her 
wash tub on her head, and go up the hill home.' It may be 
hoped that this was only while the lieutenant was away in 
the army fighting for his country and his wife. 

Considerably later, between 1780 and 1T90, John Sherman, 

son of John and brother of Caleb, ran eight measured miles 

in 56 1-2 minutes, and on a hot August day. A wager of 

eight pounds had been laid that he could not do it within an 

4 



26 

hour. He ran on the Deerfield road, from near the foot of 
Arms' hill to " Eagle brook." He had previously, to make 
the matter sure, gone over the course by night, his brother 
accompanying him on horseback, and giving him the time at 
every mile stake, "it being moonlight." 

There is much that is common in the way of living with new 
settlers everywhere. The condition of things here one 
hundred years ago repeats itself now at the farthest west. Yet 
not with exactness. Most of the men who have gone lately 
to the new lands have not been so poor as these settlers were. 
The age is not so poor. Materials and implements of all sorts 
are more abundant and much better. For the prairie country 
at the west, too, it makes less hard work than those stony and 
wooded hills did. The whole township at the period of its 
settlement was densely covered with timber, much of which 
was of great size. It can hardly be said that any of the 
original forest is still standing, to show what it was. There 
are spots that have never been cleared, but the heaviest growth 
has been removed A few single trees may remain. Most 
that we see are but puny representatives of those our fath- 
ers felled. Some of us, not old now, have found the stumps of 
pines and chestnuts, five or six feet or more in diameter. We 
are not likely to have come upon the largest. John Allis has 
this year cut a chestnut upon the lot of his grandfather, Lucius, 
full six feet across at its butt. There is one maple at least 
standing that is 18 1-2 feet in circumference.* Others 
larger are known to have fallen. Enormous hemlocks, 
growing and prostrate, covered the low and level grounds 
and blocked up the ravines and river banks. Adding 
to this the rougli surface in many parts, it made tough work 
and gave a hard look at first to the country. Thomas L. Allis 
narrates it from his grandfather that about the time of the 
setting off of the town, Eliphalet Williams of Deerfield rode 
on horseback all day over it, as best he could, and told his 
neighbors at night he would not give the horse he rode on for 
the whole of it. Others judged better of its value. The 
great trees stood for hearty soil as well as hard work. 

*Oii the Timothy Rice place owned by Levi Page. 



2T 

They made stout houses too, and substantial " back logs "— 
such of them as were not too large. 

To illustrate still further the style of living prevalent among 
the early settlers, I will quote from the address of Capt. 
Childs : "Many families had but one cow for some years. 
Milk porridge was very common fare. At those seasons of 
the year when milk failed, bean porridge was the usual substi- 
tute. They were frequently entirely out of meat in March. 
It was usual then to go to the river and buy a horseload of 
shad, which might be had in any quantity for a copper each. 
Indeed they were so plenty that they were considered not as 
a rarity but as a drug, and were resorted to from necessity 
and not from choice. Roast potatoes alone frequently consti- 
tuted the entire meal. One man said to me 'I have often 
seen the time when I would have given more for a roast potato 
than I would now for a roast turkey.' They had no tea 
except bohea, and but precious little of that." 

The roasting of potatoes canies us back to times 
when cook-stoves were unheard of and when enormous 
fireplaces ventilated and occupied, if they did not warm, 
the houses. The privation of tea may not strike us all 
with force. And the like may be said of the necessity of liv- 
ing upon Connecticut river shad. As to the fish indeed we 
know that it got into bad repute not wholly on its own ac- 
count. The ill savor it had was the taste of the lack of 
meat. Long after, if by evil chance, a farmer was brought to 
the buying of fish in Spring he might be likely to hear 
inquiries after the state of his pork-barrel. It is told of one 
in later times that, having come prematurely to the last layer, 
he went about among his neighbors to procure a lamb, whose 
wool he said his wife was in want of. Kot finding any, and 
being at last in despair, he muttered, forgetfully to himself, 
that he believed he should go and buy some codfish. 

It may be remarked withal that as to food the scarcity was 
only in the first years. Once cleared the land brought forth 
abundantly. The fields yielded wheat, and sweet grasses 
for the cattle were ready to cover the hills. 

Reviewing thus this time Mr. Emerson declares " while the 



28 

rank and situation of your fathers did not admit of that ex- 
ternal polish and refinement, or elegance and luxury in living, 
which modern fashion and taste has introduced, and prosperity 
can now better afford, yet their comparative indigence did not 
subject them to the extremities of want or merited contempt. 
Providence smiled upon their honest efforts and industry, by 
which they were rising to a state of credit and respectability ; 
verifying the remark of Solomon that " the hand of the diligent 
maketh rich." 

The first inhabitants of Conway are described by one still 
living, who remembers them, as " men and women of sound 
minds, frugal and industrious habits, strict integrity of char- 
acter and sterling worth," There is much other testimony to 
the same efiect. They were, as a class, hardy, resolute, indus- 
trious, endowed with strong common sense, attached to the 
principles of morality and good order and earnest maintainors 
of the doctrines and institutions of religion. There was, 
however, among them, as in almost every community of every 
asre, those of whom so much could not be said. The memories 
that go back to the past are apt to overvalue the distant in 
comparison with the near. If the question is put whether on 
the whole the population of that day was superior in point of 
character to the present, we should have need to hesitate 
before answering that it was. There can certainly be gath- 
ered up, in stories and songs illustrative of the social habits that 
prevailed in some circles, and from the records of the church, 
enough to comfort those who fear that our town is deteriora- 
ting in the quality of its population and running hopelessly 
into looseness and disorder. There was dishonesty, not per- 
haps at first quite down to the average, (it may be feared in 
in this respect we have made no gain at least,) ; there was in- 
temperance, after a little, below the line of recent times ; 
there was as much vulgarity of speech and of manners and as 
much immorality, and irregularity of life in general as is usual 
in modern times. It will not be expected that I should pro- 
duce the proofs on some of these points. And it is not pleasant 
to lower the estimate many may hold of those who lived here 
)t)efore us. But waiving further comparison with the present, 



29 

if we take the years between 1840 and 1850, it is a matter of 
the clearest knowledge that there was never any earlier 
period at which our town had on the whole a better popula- 
tion than it had then. More than this, it is my decided belief 
that, going back from that time, the levels will be found 
dropping somewhat lower. What changes the last few years 
have wrought I can not undertake to determine. Moreover, 
to look fairly on the later generations is in justice, also, to the 
fathers themselves. Then set on foot appliances of education 
and religion upon the working of which they relied, not only to 
maintain for their own time the power of sound principles, 
but also to perpetuate them and to pass them down to the 
coming generations. To place the present below the past is 
to disparage the past ; for it was the business of the past to 
make the present better. Our fathers meant to do it. 

Previous to the incorporation of the town, religious meetings 
had not been held with regularity. Such as were able went 
to Deerfield ; or they attended any occasional meeting they 
could hear of. At the second town meeting provision was 
made for hiring a preacher. The Congregational church was 
organized in less than a year — July 14th, 1768. It had thirty- 
two members, sixteen men and sixteen women.* After a little 
Mr. John Emerson of Maiden was invited to preach as a can- 
didate for settlement. " It was," says he " in the month of 
April, 1769, when I commenced my public labors here on the 
Sabbath, being the 9th day of that month and year. We met 
at a barn. It was surrounded with thick growing wood except 
a small adjacent spot cleared, which admitted ye light of 
heaven ; a place different indeed from those costly and splendid 
edifices erected and dedicated to the worship of ye Most High 
since that day , and very dissimilar," he goes on to say, em- 
phasizing his words, " from that in ye ancient church in Brat- 
tle St., Boston, where I had been called only ye Lord's day 
before to preach." " On this Sabbath," he continued, "the 
people, all 'tis supposed that were able, came to hear the word. 

*The whole number of admissions into this church from the beginning, is stated 
by Mr. Cutler, the present pastor, to be 1459, the present membership 263, and the 
total of baptisms 1711, 



Natural curiosity indeed was doubtless one motive for this 
attention. The speaker was a stranger from a distance, and 
a youth of small stature, nothing otherwise distinguishing ; 
only it was literally John preaching in the wilderness when 
they came out to see and hear." 

Mr. Emerson pleased the people and was ordained pastor, 
Dec. 21, 1769. He was voted " for an encouragement " an 
annual salary of fifty pounds, with a yearly addition of three 
pounds until it should rise to eighty. He was also to have, 
within two years and a half, an additional sum of one hund- 
red and fifty pounds " settlement." 

The ordaining council had dinner at Consider Arms's. 
Tradition has preserved the story that after dinner two of the 
ministers were unable to find their way back to the church — on 
account of the woods. Yet it may here be mentioned that fifty- 
eight years later, at the settlement of Daniel Crosby, it was 
reckoned a strange thing that he should propose and insist 
upon the entertaining of the council without liquors.* 

All proceedings with respect to the support of preaching 
were then, as for many years, had in town meetings. The 
town was the parish. The money raised for religious purposes 
was collected with the other taxes. 

Here, also, by the town, were taken all steps for the building 
and furnishing a meeting house. For several years no subject 
appears more frequently upon the records. At the second 
town meeting, held in Sept. 1767, a committee was appointed 
to find the center of the town, with this object in view. This 
committee discovered what they regarded as the appropriate 
spot in the so-called " center lot ; "f the same being what is 
now known to a few as " the old common," situated 25 

*A list of ministers and of their wives for both the Congregational and Baptist 
churches, prepared by Mr. Coffin, will be found in appendix A. And the papers 
furnished by Rev. Mr. Cutler and by Mr. .Coffin, and herewith pubHshed, touching 
further upon the ministry and the religious growth of these churches, have led to 
the omission also from this history of certain other paragraphs thereby rendered un- 
necessary. 

+ This was before the great addition on the northwest from Shelburne. The 
center of the town at present can not be far from this hill on wliich we are 
assembled. 



31 

or 30 rods south of Mrs. William Avery's , and now owned 
by Jabez Newhall. But the matter of locat ion was not so 
settled. Many meetings were held, and many c onflicting votes 
taken. A committee from abroad was called in. They re- 
ported the true center to be seventeen rods southwest of the 
old common spot, and not suitable for building on ; and rec- 
ommended a site on the Elijah Wells place, a few rods east of 
where H. B. Childs now lives.* And their report was also 
" excepted " and the spot " established." But neither did 
this stand. They subsequently voted to build a small house 
near Jonathan Whitney's ; rescinded this vote, and finally, 
in the Spring of 1769, determined " yt ye ISTole, about fifteen 
or twenty rods north of the southeast corner of ye Center lot, 
where is a large stump with a stake Spoted, standing within 
ye same, be established for a spot to build the meeting-house 
upon." The site thus fixed on was the same now occupied 
by the school-house in Pumpkin Hollow, a third of a mile 
east of " the old common," and within, and near the eastern 
line of, the same center lot, which, stretching westward over 
the hill, included both the other locations selected by the com- 
mittees. On this " nole " was raised the house which stood, 
a meeting and a town house, until within the memory of all 
of us who have attained to middle age. The frame was put up 
in the spring and summer of 1709. The first town meeting, and 
perhaps the first meeting of any sort, was held in it, Sept. twen- 
ty-fifth of that year.f And it was in this building that Mr. 
Emerson was ordained, as before noticed, in December fol- 
lowing. 

It was then, and for years after, only a shell. The minister 
took for a pulpit one end of the carpenter's work-bench, which 
was left against times of further use. Part of his congrega- 
tion sat on the other end. The larger portion occupied 
benches made of slabs. The cpiestions of the sale of pew 
ground, of the building of pews, of pulpit, gallery and porches 

* The " seventeen rods southwest " brought the site from the fine swell at the 
former supposed center, down upon a marsh, as may be plainly seen. 

+ Before this time town meetings were usually held at the houses of Thomas 
French, Nathaniel Field or Jonathan Whitney. 



32 

continued long to exercise the ingenuity and to disturb, it 
must be feared, the temper of our fathers. The pews, when 
thej began to be buikled, were not put in all at once, but 
there remained a space still occupied by benches. There are 
signs of a jealousy of the pew building as of aristocratic ten- 
dency, and of a disposition on the part of some to stand by the 
common benches as more suitable to a wholesome sentiment 
of equality.* Gradually, however, the house grew into order 
and convenience. It was enlarged in 1795 and 1796 to meet the 
wants of a rapidly increasing congregation. Porches and a 
steeple were built and a clock provided. In 1842 it was taken 
down, a new house having been built a quarter of a mile 
north, which still stands. The connection between town and 
parish having been then dissolved, arrangements we're made 
by which the town secured the right of holding its meet- 
ings in the basement of the new building. 

The old meeting-house was not warmed by a fire until 
1819, fifty years after it was built, when stoves were put up 
in it. Hot stones and foot stoves were often carried, to miti- 
gate the severity of winter. The minister preached with 
overcoat and gloves on. And notwithstanding what may be 
said of the hardy habits of former generations there is abun- 
dant evidence that they suffered much from cold. 

Another provision for warmth on Sundays may also be 
mentioned. There was a small log-house, called the " Little 
House," perhaps also the same that is once mentioned in tlie 
records as " the Sabbath House " which stood a few rods 
south of the Meeting House on the flat back of the residence 
and store of Wm. C. Campbell. Here a huge fire was built 
on Sundays, which was resorted to at morning and noon. 

* The'force of this sentiment is illustrated by an anecdote which Capt. Childs 
has preserved of Nathaniel Dickinson, a Deerfield man, who owned land 
and often attended meeting in Conway. He " thought himself a little above the 
common level, " and occupied for several Sabbaths an arm chair which he had pro- 
vided and placed near the deacon's seat and " directly by the side of Madame Em- 
erson's chair." One day, coming late, " he found his seat among the missing," and 
much to his own disgust and to the satisfaction of the audience, he had to take a 
seat " side by side with the common people." A few years after his chair was 
found " on the top of Dr. Hamihou's hill hanging in a hemlock.'' 



33 

Here we may suppose oar fathers and mothers had their Sun- 
day noon conversations, always on befitting topics. This 
house was built as early, at the latest, as 1769# How long it 
stood I have no means of knowing. 

The first action of the town with respect to schools appears 
in the record of a meeting held in September, 1Y67, at which 
it was voted " yt they will hire a Dame to keep school 5 
months, and yt Messrs. Nathaniel Field, Ebenezer Allis and 
Benjamin Pulsifer be a committee to provide said Dame, and 
appoint where said school shall be kept." The schools were 
held in private houses. The first scliool-house was begun in 
1773, and finished the next year. Its dimensions were 25 
feet by 22 feet. It stood a few rods northeast of the old 
meeting house, near the middle, but somewhat toward the 
eastern side of the common, on a spot which would be crossed 
by a line from the shop lately and long occupied by Phineas 
Bartlit, Esq., passing over the common to the house of Jabez 
Newhall. The site of this house, which through comparison 
of various dates, has been with difficulty recovered to knowl- 
edge, is to be marked by a century elm this morning planted 
upon it. A living memorial, which unlike anything else of 
all the life of the present generation, may possibly carry its 
remembrances across the coming century the next hundreth" 
return of the day we now commemorate. 

For a few years the sum of money raised for schooling did 
not exceed twelve pounds, but in 1774 it was increased to 
thirty pounds. Once only since has the annual appropriation 
been omitted. This was in 1775, and was owing to the great 
apprehension that prevailed in view of the approaching hos- 
tilities with Great Britain. The amount raised for schools 
the current year is twenty-seven hundred dollars. The earlier 
sums were not small in comparison when we consider the 
poverty of a population of farmers, few of whom, as yet, 
owned a horse, or a cart or a plough. Some rudiments of a 
district system begin to appear in 1776, and in 1778 the town 
was formally " squadroned out " for schooling. The districts 
as we now know them are of much later date. 
5 



34 

For about ten years this first school house was the only one 
in town. Schools were held to some extent in the outer parts 
of the town. But this was the principal school. Here, 
whenever it was in session, the older children came from all 
parts, boys and girls, young men and women. It thus became, 
by force of circumstances, a town high school. The branches 
taught were reading, writing, spelling and arithmetic* An 
effort was made in 1791 to introduce " grammar," a term 
which seems then partly, perhaps, from its legal use in the 
name " Grammar School," to have been confined to the study 
of the classical tongues. It was voted that the Latin and 
Greek languages should be taught. But the reason of this 
was " Greek " to our fathers ; and the next year it was re- 
scinded. 

Private " select schools " have been held for many years. 
One such was kept 29 terms, to his own credit, and to the 
great and lasting benefit of the town, by Dea. John Clary. f 



* The remark is often made, with a design to reflect on the present school sys- 
tem, that the children of those times learned these things well, and were especially 
better spellers than the children now are. We are not to admit this view of the 
matter. The children then did as well as could be expected, no doubt. But, as 
the public documents of the time show, they did not become as a class good spellers. 
The earliest of these documents, to be sure, were written by men whose childhood 
was not spent in this''town. But they had been children somewhere. No one 
tracing the record need fail to see that there has been steady improvement down 
to recent times. It is not to be believed that there was ever a time when the 
young people of Conway could spell more correctly than they can now. Certainly 
there was no such time in the last centuiy. The town records contain among 
many others of the like sort, such specimens as "minits," "menchaned," " tran- 
chent (transient)," " vew," " missus " or " miss " for Messrs. " Butments " which 
is solid and will stand, and "sewing" for suing. We find also for the first word 
of our national name, " Unighted." But the achievements in this direction of man- 
kind in any age are astounding. Many of us now here have seen in an oflScial war- 
rant for a Itown meeting, that same word rendered " Younighted." Benighted 
sons of a benighted ancestry ! It ought however to be added that inaccuracies in 
spelling one hundred years ago stood for less than they do now; — there being in 
general less care even with well taught people, to conform to a fixed standard. 

t Mr. Clary's school began in 1831, and extended through 12 years. The average 
attendance was 36. The number of diiFerent scholars was 463, one third of them 
from other towns. A very large number of these scholars became teachers in their 
turn, and a considerable proportion have also been found in the several learned pro- 
fessioriB. Mr. Clary, living 2 1-2 milas from the school, traveled in attendance upon 



35 

In 1853 the Conway Academy was incorporated. The build- 
ing then erected with money voluntarily contributed, was 
destroyed by fire in 1803, and the present structure was raised 
on the same spot (on the hill opposite the Congregational 
meeting house) in the next year. Within the past two years 
arrangements have been made by which there is here kept a 
High School free for all the children of the town. 

It is not known who was the first school-teacher in the town. 
The first master whose memory has been preserved to us 
was Master Cole. A teacher was famous in those days ac- 
cording as he lifted up switches upon his unruly boys. The 
name of Master Cole still sprouts fresh among us, like a twig 
from a green birch tree.* 

Another necessity engaged the early attention of our fathers. 
At the same second town meeting, held in Sept. 1707, at which 
provision was made for the services of religion, there was 
also secured a ground for burial. Previous to this time Mrs. 
Cyrus Rice had been buried in Deerfield ; and an infant child 
of Silas E-awson and a child of John Thwing, three years old, 
at a spot, not marked, a little south of Mr. Emerson's house. 
The fij'st ground then laid out for burying was that now 
known as the Emerson Yard, on the slope ot tiie hill east of Mr. 
Emerson's house. The place is spoken of as lying near '" the 
saw mill " which then stood below, upon the river, where the 
mill dam now is. Here was brought, in December follow- 
ing, a son of Israel Kice, one year old, drowned while his 
father and mother forded South iiiver on horseback by 
night, and, after an interval of fifteen months, John Thwing, 
the first adult person buried in Conway. 

In 1772 land was purchased of Elias Uickiubon for a second 

burial yard westward, in the rear of the meetiug-house, which 

had then been placed and built. This ground nas been long 

^unused; only the ancient gravestones are on it. In lbi5 



H a distance of 9000 miles. "The five most literary names in those days," he 
says, " as appears from the records, stood iu the order of Clarke, iiice. Arms, 
Bartlett and Howlaud." 

* He was an Irishman and a soldier, stifi' and pompous ; and he carried his 
sword with him into the school-room. 



36 



there was laid out, one and a half miles north of the center 
of the town, the Pine Grove cemetery, where, since that time, 
the most of our dead have been buried. There are also other 
burial places in the remoter parts of the town. 

Into these, the villages of the dead, which began at first to 
be so slowly occupied, have been gathered since, sometimes 
by rapid and ever by sure accessions, a population outnum- 
bering that which is still found in the houses of the living. 

The number of deaths recorded since 1770 — to which time 
the account has already been brought, is in each year as fol- 
lows : 



Year. 


No. 


Year. 


No. 


Year. 


No. 


Year. 


No. 


Year. 


No. 


Year. 


No. 


Year. 


No. 


1770 


2 


1785 


18 


1800 


19 


1815 


23 


1830 


14 


1845 


12 


1860 


36 


1771 


4 


1786 


7 


1801 


13 


1816 


21 


1831 


34 


1846 


28 


1861 


31 


1772 


7 


1787 


35 


1802 


20 


1817 


14 


1832 


12 


1847 


12 


1862 


36 


1773 


5 


1788 


15 


1803 


84 


1818 


15 


1833 


27 


1848 


19 


1863 


43 


1774 


9 


1789 


17 


1804 


13 


1819 


20 


1834 


22 


1849 


16 


1864 


28 


1775 


19 


1790 


17 


1805 


14 


1820 


12 


1835 


20 


1850 


32 


1865 


35 


1776 


25 


1791 


17 


1806 


13 


1821 


22 


1836 


24 


1851 


56 


1866 


37 


1777 


75 


1792 


20 


1807 


6 


1822 


24 


1837 


16 


1852 


20 






1778 


13 


1793 


20 


1808 


18 


1823 


17 


1838 


24 


1853 


36 






1779 


11 


1794 


27 


1809 


10 


1824 


25 


1839 


13 


1854 


36 






1780 


14 


1795 


49 


1810 


16 


1825 


27 


1840 


21 


1855 


35 






1781 


10 


1796 


16 


1811 


20 


1826 


18 


1841 


13 


1856 


36 






1782 


23 


1797 


21 


1812 


19 


1827 


21 


1842 


15 


1857 


30 






1783 


17 


1798 


22 


1813 


28 


1828 


28 


1843 


25 


1858 


28 






1784 


14 


1799 


15 


1814 


21 


1829 


19 


1844 


31 


1859 


28 







Adding for the years previous to 1770 and for the part of 
the current year now past, the total of deaths recorded is 
2183. The yearly average for the century is thus 21 83-100. 
Passing by the first 13 years, the average of 30 years from 
1775 was 22 86-100. The average for the last 30 years, to 
the beginning of 1867, has been 27 63-100. While for the 
last 10 years it has been 33 2-10. It will thus be seen that 
the rate of mortality has increased toward the latter part of 
this period. This increase is due partly to the fact that the 
town was occupied at first mostly by people who were young. 
And like all emigrants they were doubtless more robust and 
vigorous than the average of the population from which they 
came. The same causes withal are now reversed in opera- 
tion ; taking away from us the young and leaving the old. 

Some allowance should also be made for omissions in the 
registration^ which was less carefully made in former years 



37 

than at present. And moreover it maybe observed that even 
the greatest rate of mortality is not relatively large, being 
only one in fifty annually of the population. 

The following are lists of persons who have lived past the 
age of ninety years ; and of such as have met their death by 
casualties. Both these lists were prepared in part by Capt. 
Childs : 

AGED PEOPLE. 



Joseph Chilson, 
Widow Alexander, 
Widow Stebbins, 
Widow Marble, 
Wm. Allen, 
Widow Allen, 
Widow Brewer, 
Widow Buchanan, 
Deacon Root, 
Widow Parker, 
Widow Farnsworth, 

and 4 days. 
John Wing, 
Widow Neal, 
Widow Look, 
Jonas Rice, 
Aaron Billings, 
Lilies Dickinson, 
James Dickinson, 
Widow Murphy, 
Widow Tobey, 
Widow Dinsmore, 
Widow Leonard, 
Israel Rice, 
Hiel Kelsey, 



100 years, 1 mo. 



Age. 




Age. 


99 Widow Hartwell, 


92 


99 


Mrs. Newhall, 


92 


90 


Timothy Thwing, 


90 


92 


Widow Thwing, 


91 


96 


John Broderick, 


91 


98 


Widow Benjamin Rice, 


91 


94 


Widow Joel Rice, 


91 


96 


Anna Brooks, 


90 


92 


Mrs. Hamilton, 


98 


92 


Jonathan Adams, 


92 


10. 


Benjamin Bond, 


93 




Amariah Tobey, 


91 


90 


Medad Crittenden. 


92 


94 


John Boyden, 


93 


90 


Lois Baker, 


92 


92 


Widow Noah Dickinson, 


90 


91 


Stephen Thompson, 


95 


90 


Beulah B. Avery, 


91 


93 


Timothy Maynard, 


99 


94 


Daniel Rice, 


91 


90 


Anna (Dickinson) Allis, 


90 


92 


Anna (Hosmer) Bement, 


92 


97 


Micah Hamilton, 


94 


90 


Content (Dickinson) Sanderson, 


93 


94 


Total, 


48. 



UNUSUAL DEATHS. 



1767. Child of Israel Rice, drowned. 

1777 or 1778. Michael Turpey, drowned in Deerfield river. 

1778. Child of Wm. Farnsworth, scalded. 

1779. Child of Wm. Pearson, drowned in a well. 

1782. Benoin Brunson, kick of a horse, 

1783. Child of Capt. Arms, scalded. 

1788. Isaac Daniels, killed by a door in the great storm. 

1794. Thomas Miles, killed by a tree. 

1796. Clark Beals, killed by a log. 

1798. Ira Nims, killed in raising a building. 

1799. Son of John Wheat, scalded. 

1800. Mr. Tolman, run over by a wagon. 
1800. Child of Mr. Halloway, killed by a horse. 
1803. Captain Dinsmore, fall from a horse. 



' ' 3S' 

1804. Elijah Claiy, fall from scaffolding. 

1808. James Wright, well caving in on him. 

1811. Child of John Boyden, scalded. 

1813. Jeremiah Booth, drowned. 

1814. Israel Brown, killed by a sled. 

1817. Increase Briggs and Consider WUder, drowned whUe crossing Deerfield 

nver. 

1818. Child of Samuel Haxford, drowned. » 

1827. Edward Thayer, killed by a tree. 

1828. Wife of Rodolphus Wells, fall on stairs. 

1828. Rodolphus Wells, fall from a tree. 

1829. Simeon Merrit, fall in bam. 

1829. CharlesfBaker and Oliver Warner, killed by lightning • 

1830. Adolphus Bacon, kick of a horse. 

1831. David Boyden, drowned. 

1832. Ebenezer Clark, fall from a tree. 
1839. John Broderick, drowned. 

1841. Sally M. Murphy, burned to death. 

1844. Child of Zebulon Paine, scalded. 

1849. Son of Jas. Packard, scalded. 

1850. Mrs. Joseph Towne, burned. 
1850. ChUd of Austin Hopkins, scalded. 
1852. James Groom, caught in machinery. 
1854. Christian bummers, drowned. 
1854. Albert Barber, drowned. 

1857. Child of Walter Guildford, drowned 

]Trl' nf °; "T^ ^'"""'^ ^- ^''''' ^^'^ by lightning. 
1852. Charles Adams, drowned. 

1864. Child of Thomas Groom, drowned 

!«««■ r^u '^•7'^'''' ^'' "' ^"""'^ ^''''^"^ '^ battle. 

1866. Child of Martm Riley, drowned. 

1867. Wm. Bigelow, kick of a horse. 
There have also been seven cases of suicide. 

In 1776 four men died in tlie army, Moses Childs and Isaac 

Nelson, and a son each of Nath'I Marble and Wm. Gates. In 

1777 Isaac Amsdeu lost four children in piM.f i 

brother Elisl^a lost four in Zj Eudtuv ''^'"' ^"^ ^'' 
■fu /n 1 T^ *^*^V- -Ciiijaii iiiUmffs also lost 

180. ,. ' KM ^"■"^'"'"^ ''fe° 1°^' three in ten days! In 
1803 three children of Job Howland died within ei^hfdav 
And m 1798, between Oct. mh, and Dec. 24th, f el dfed 
ot one iamdy Gamaliel Glover, his wife and five children 

wifhte7st rofdl^:" ''"' '^'^ ™^ -> •>« ^"-^ —ted 



39 

It may here also be appropriately mentioned that there are 
now living in Conway 57 persons — and the enumeration may 
not be complete — -who are above 70 years of age. And there 
are 18 who have reached 80 years or more. 

On the day of the celebration the speaker made a pause at 
near this point in the address, and, observing that the ancient 
preachers often so framed their discourses that they might be 
cut abruptly off to suit the times, proceeded to read from a book 
of hymns published in Conway in 1198, by Elder Josiah Goddard.* 
Franklin Childs, who has rendered many good offices to the wri- 
ter of this sketch in its preparation, and who has long been 
prominent as a leader of choirs, had arranged for singing in the 
style of the olden time ; and the singers were already in their 
places. Mr. Childs took the key of "St. Marty ns " from an 
ancient wooden pitchpipe, and "deaconed" the lines in a musi- 
cal tone, as the manner was. Many voices throughout the 
assembly joined in the song. And the effect, so peculiar and 
impressive, will long be remembered. The verses sung were 
the following, being part of a hymn entitled, " The Slow 
Traveller." 

O happy souls, how fast yon go, 
And leave us here behind ; 
Don't stop for me, for now I see 
The Lord is just and kind. 

When you get to the world above, 
And all their glory see, 
When you are home your work is done, 
Then look you out for me. 

For I will come fast as I can ; 

Along that way I steer. 

Lord give me strength, I shall at length 

Be one among you there. 

The singing having ended, the speaker remarked that his 
address, resembling again the old discourses, had also, unhap- 
pily, an equal facility of being resumed, and went on with the 
narrative. 

* Elder Goddard was a man of excellent sense, of a strong mind. He was a 
worker withal with his hands ; and he has left the reputation of being the swiftest 
reaper the town ever produced. 



40 

It has been commonly supposed that the first County Road 
leading from Deerfield to Ashfield through Conway, left the 
Mill Brook valley just above the old " Hawks' place," passing 
up the hill to the left by Cyrus Rice's, and thence over the 
Jonas Rice hill (where Joel Rice now is) to Pumpkin Hollow, 
from which point it turned northward, crossing South river 
near the post office, then rising the hill by Franklin Arms', 
and continuing on by the Amsden (now Guildford) places 
into Ashfield. The latter part only of this course is correctly 
stated. The laying out of the first half of the above described 
route in town roads can be traced on the Records. And plain 
references fix the county road on another track. The laying 
out of this road " from Deerfield to Huntstown " in 175i has 
already been referred to. From the record, kept at A^orth- 
ampton, it is only to be learned that there was then a cart 
track leading from the top of Long Hill in Deerfield, to a saw 
mill on Mill Brook, (which no doubt was near where the saw 
mill below the " Hawks' place" now stands), and that just 
before coming to the mill " the Huntstown Path " turned 
northward from the cart track " into the woods," and that the 
said county road was laid out ten rods in width following this 
path through its whole course. The road kept upon the 
hills just north of Mill Brook until it reached the spot 
where Robert Hamilton afterward settled, (at Madison 
Stearns') and then turned squarely to the left across the valley, 
rising past the place of Wm. Avery Howland and passing over 
the top of the hill, some distance to the north of the present 
road, and descending to the old Jonathan Whitney place, 
northeast of Capt. Charles Parsons'. The next stage alone 
is in some doubt. The road probably bore toward the north, 
crossing the river a little above where is now the dam built 
by Gen. Asa Howland, near his house, and at the foot of the 
old burying-yard hill, and from thence westerly to the neigh- 
borhood of the Baptist meeting house; and thence over the 
Arms' hill, as before described. The first bridge over South 
River was probably at the spot just mentioned. But it was 
Bwept away within three or four years, at the farthest, and 
was never replaced— the passage remaining afterwards a ford- 
way. The first bridge built after the incorporatioa of the 



41 

town appears to have been not far from the Post Office, where 
the road now crosses. The fixing of the center of the town 
and the location of the meeting house near it drew the roads 
more to the southward ; and led finally to the entire discon- 
tinuance of this middle portion of the old county road.* 
Withal as to the road over the Jonas Rice hill, from the east, 
the same attraction to the center, taken in connection with 
the fact that the southeastern portion of the town became early 
quite populous, will account for its being, as it certainly was, 
a line of much passage. The opening of the route next to be 
spoken of may afterwards have contributed to bring, or to 
keep, travel on that track. 

A second county road, laid in 1785, led from the old meet- 
ing house over the hill to Consider Arms' (now Elijah Arms') 
through what has since become Burkeville, and thence up the 
river to the large dam lately built, and then, crossing the hill 
on the south, it struck down again upon the valley a mile and 
a half above, and continued on to Ashfield, and beyond to the 
county line. The gap in the valley above the dam was sup- 
plied in 1824. It was reckoned a hard road to build ; and Dea. 
Elisha Billings eloquently declared in town meeting that it 
led through a gorge " into which the sun in heaven had not 
shone since the morning of creation." Still later, in 1837, the 
river line was completed by the road from the bridge near the 
Post Office up the valley to the old grist mill. On the east 
the road to Deerfield was brought down from the hills to the 
side of Mill Brook, where it now is, in 1832. 

The roads to Broomshire and South Part were laid in 1767. 
Those to West Street, Cricket Hill and Poland in 1769. * The 
present improved South Part road dates from 1816 ; the 
Broomshire from 1847 ; the Cricket Hill from 1850 ; and the 
new Shelburne Falls road from 1856. 

* There is no question of locality connected with the early history of the town so 
puzzling as this concerning the course of the first county road in passing South 
river. There are very distinct tracss of an old road in the direction hei'e laid 
down on the eastern side of the river. I was once inclined to think that this might 
have been only a road made at first to reach the saw mill which stood at that point 
on the river, and leaving the county road near Jonathan Whitney's. But I have 
become convinced that the account given'above is most satisfactory. I will not b^ 
further tedious by entering into the grQunds of this conclusion. 




42 

The tracks at first were marked with a purpose to reach and 
connect the settler's houses. The houses were on hills, where 
the soil could be most easily worked ; and not in swamps and 
gullies. So the roads kept well on the uplands. Here, too, 
they were made with less work, required fewer bridges, 
and were for those days really better roads than valley 
roads could have been. Though these highways were at 
first mere paths for horses and men, and next no more than 
cart tracks, yet the amount of hard work done upon them 
within twenty years from the occupation of the town must 
have been prodigious. They seem to have been early 
put in creditable shape for the country and the time. It is 
related that when Dr. Samuel Ware came to Conway, about 
ITTO, his wife, struck with the good appearance of the roads, 
remarked that " there might some day be chaises in this 
town ;" a womanly fancy which her husband rebuked as wild 
and extravagant. It was not long, however, before Parson 
Emerson had a chaise. Others followed him later. Lucius 
Allis and Elisha Clark grew aristocratic enough after a time 
to ride each in his "hack." One horse wagons were 'not 
known till the beginning of the present century. The first 
one was built by Robert Hamilton, who was a clockmaker ; 
and a suifieiently solid man to need a carriage. He thought 
himself the inventor of the institution; and held that there 
was not another like it in all America. ]^ot far from the same 
time Dr. Ware built the first single sleigh or " cutter." Be- 
fore then the lively young people went sleighing upon wood 
sleds,,or haply on a " pung ; " saving that it was more fash- 
ionable to go horseback. 

It may be observed that for conveying their baggage the 
first settlers sometimes made a rack, like a broad ladder, with 
stout side pieces between which in front they put a horse, 
trailing the rear end on the ground. This instrument was 
called " a car." The men who went early bej^ond ns up the 
Deerfield river used such ; but cast them aside on reaching 
the smoother country at the foot of the hill toward Shelburne 
Falls. The strange looking wrecks thus left attracted the at- 
t;ention of a phiIosoph}C3.1 traveler who repaired to a native 



4a 

for an explanation. He was informed that Satan witli 
part of a legion had once been traveling down the valley and 
at this spot, not liking the looks of the road and bethinking 
him of tlie river, he had taken to navigation and left behind 
him his land gear. It may be added that although the ways in 
that neighborhood have been much improved, this personage 
has not been seen there since, — nor indeed in any part of the 
town. Other cars more modern may this year be running 
past the hills over which the old racks were drawn. 

Some note may here be made of the names of localities in 
our town. Cricket Hill was so called first by a party of hunt- 
ers who were annoyed by the crickets as they camped there 
for a night. Capt. Cliilds, in the calm and confident exercise 
of that foreseeing faculty which belongs ever to the true his- 
torian, declares that as " it has been known by that name from 
that day to this " so it " will continue to be as long as the 
hills remain." I here ofiicially reaffirm the declaration. 
" Hardscrabble " sets forth that it is hard scrabbling on that 
soil to live. Of Hoosac I have no satisfactory explanation. 
Broomshire, as is well known, has its name from the walnut 
brooms Wm. Warren made, and sold in Deerfield, one broom 
for a pound and a half of pork. He did it because he was 
hungry ; being out of meat for several years by winter. He 
used to walk first to Deerfield to get a horse and "pung" to 
carry his brooms. Concerning Shirkshire Capt. Childs shall 
give the narration. " Old Mr. Sherman," he says — it was 
doubtless John Sherman — " happened along as the people 
were upon the roads, and at their request assisted them a num- 
ber of hours, hoping tliereby to earn and get his dinner. But 
no one seemed willing (as the services rendered were for the 
public) to bear the burden alone, — they all sJiirked, and left 
him to shirk for himself as best he could. Highly indignant ■ 
at the neglect with which he was treated he left the place in 
a state of great excitement, saying, ' let it be called Sliirk- 
shire from tliis day forward ; ' and so it has been and will be 
as long as wood grows and water runs." — -It is an affair of 
seriousness; and the ordinance looks unchangeable. But one 



main feature escaped the historian's eye. The time was doubt- 
less while the district belonged to Shelburne. The thing was 
not done, as of course it never could have been, in Conway. 
Remembering this, and considering that it is not just that the 
children's teeth should be forever set on edge because the 
father ate no grapes — or other dinner, I suggest that we 
might at once propitiate the hungry and indignant shade of 
John Sherman and commemorate the integrity and manly 
vigor of his son Caleb, by calling that district Sherman 
Corner ; or by fixing in some other similar manner that fam- 
ily name upon it.* As to Poland Capt. Childs professes that 
he knows no derivation for the name, and thinlvs it must be 
due to the deeply planted liberty loving and slavery hating 
instincts of its people, — allying them to the Polanders of 
Europe. The prevalence there of these noble sentiments is a 
matter of conspicuous knowledge, and this is the association 
which the title should ever suggest, but tiie serious verities of 
history constrain me to record that the name itself originated 
in the strife of two boys over the skins of certain slain " Pole 
Cats." I do not know but the animal may also bear another 
name. Of " the city " no account is preserved, except that 
two girls,^about to ^depart from it, left it the name. It ob- 
viously comes of the great number of buildings^ the neigh- 
borhood has — room for. Lastly, in the center is Pumpkin 
Hollow. Into it the pumpkins once rolled from the eastern 
if not also Irom the western cultivated slope. We hear that 
there are those who have ventured to tamper with the whole- 
some and savory and venerable appellation.f Let it not be 

*From 1797 to 1842 Caleb Sherman was a drover. He made about 500 trips to 
Boston. "He paid promi)tly," says Capt. Childs, "for every hoof he purchased, 
and, as is believed, returned good weight for every one taken on drift." On the 
first day of July, 1813, he fell through the Connecticut river bridge at Montague, 
with his drove, and had his leg so injured that it was amputated above the knee. 
By the next October he was again in Boston following his business. 

•fThey went, with maidens, and children of the schools, and others following, up 
the eastern hill ; and there they sang and poured libations, and called the 
name that had not been heard before. Howbeit some part sang in the words 
of one song and some part sang in the words of a song that was contrary thereto. 
George Moulton Adams was Fonti/ex Maximus ; but neither were the omens duly 
taken, nor was the deity of the place made propitious. 



45 

done. Clothed to day with the prophetic mantle my prede- 
cessor dropped, I make it here to be known that, so long 
as the greatest of those vegetable orbs will roll from the top 
of Field's or Newhall's hill the valley that lies between shall 
be called of men Pumpkin Hollow. For the information of 
the curious mind I will add that the locality sometimes en- 
titled " Church Green " is in Pumpkin Hollow. 

The dress worn by the first settlers and their families was, 
as might be supposed, of the plainest fabric. Tow cloth and 
linsey wolsey were the common materials for men and boys. 
Some men, not of the tailors' craft, and not forced either to 
such a resort, used to cut for themselves the garment that was 
worn where pantaloons ought to be. Stout linen, checked or 
striped wdth blue, was for Sunday wear. The busy wives 
and daughters spun and w^ove it ; and wore it also for them- 
selves. So they made table and pocket linen, very similar, of 
which here is a specimen (displaying a checked handkerchief 
made in the old time). No Conway man is expected to-day 
to use one of any other description. Infant children were 
baptised wearing dresses of this material. Our stylish girls 
had then for winter flannel frocks, red or of butternut color, 
which they made and dyed themselves. They became irresist- 
ibly charming when they added a Boston ribbon for the 
waist and neck. Silks, though not absolutely unknown, were 
very rare. And. so, too, was cotton. For many years a first 
class bridal suit was of calico. When the town had a repre- 
sentative at the General Court it was often sent for by him. 
The cost was a dollar a yard. As to the quantity required 
there are no means at the present time for forming a judg- 
ment. 

There is evidence withal that what they had they took 
care of. The young woman, coming on Sunday to meeting, 
would not put on their best shoes until they were near the 
meeting house ; wearing for the most of the way some coarser 
covering of art — or a finer one of nature. Often, though less 
uniformly, dresses as well as shoes were thus changed. I 
know not what ignominious man has cut down that chestnut 
tree near the western foot of the Jonas Kice hill that was 



4^ 

the favorite dressing shelter of the inaidens from the East Side 
and the South Part, As to the boys, shoes were of no account 
to them except in the very coldest months. Bonnets were 
prolonged " shakers." There is a South Part story that Capt. 
Lucius Allis used to keep cider — which may be believed — at 
some place near the meeting house to be had with the Sunday 
dinners, and that the women attempting to take a share — 
which is not so clear — were much embarrassed by reason of 
these bonnets. It is not believed that the present style would 
give occasion to such difficulties. Disregarding the cider, I 
do not know but there maybe found those who will acquiesce 
in the change by which the faces of the mother's daughters 
have ceased to be so entirely inaccessible. 

However this almost exclusively domestic provision for cloth- 
ing may now please the imagination, there is abundant evi- 
dence that it did not then adequately protect the body. Capt. 
Childs speaks of the clothing of the early inhabitants as " utter- 
ly insufficient ; " and facts transmitted to us will sustain his 
statement. That the settlers were generally healthy and that 
many of them lived to a great age, makes nothing against it. 
Yigor of constitution supported them ; and the strength that 
comes of working and sleeping in good air. Moreover as to 
the children tlie healthiness of the early times is not ad- 
mitted. 

It is pleasing to be able to reflect that notwithstanding 
poverty of dress and badness of the roads, with lack of car- 
riages, the first people here did not neglect social intercourse. 
Malachi Maynard used to come evenings with his family 
two miles down the hill to call on his neighbor Consider 
Arms. His wife carried one child, he another ; and there 
was left for him his right hand for a burning pine knot to 
liglit the way and keep off wolves. So they refreshed them- 
selves after their day's work. When Mr. Emerson brought liis 
young wife, Sabra Cobb, from Boston in 1770, almost the 
whole town came together to the reception at the house of 
Consider Arms. It may be guessed it was a new side of life 
the lady saw. The report is still heard of the kisses she 



47 

enjoyed — or endured. On this occasion her resohition to do 
appears also to have been equal to her fortitude to suffer. Eli 
Dickinson said the kiss he received was " the sweetest he had 
ever had." "Whereat his wife gave him the boxing he de- 
served. Mrs. Emerson was a lady if she came from Boston. 
Slie had a silk umbrella ; and because there was not an 
umbrella among her people she never carried it ; but long 
after she made the silk into Ijonnets for her daughters. One 
da}'- when Mr. Emerson was away a man brought to her house 
a choice piece of pork. To her horror he told her that his 
hoff had died that mornino; " of a sore throat." She thanked 
him graciously, but being afraid her husband would be angry 
— for his temper rose on due occasion — and wishing to hide a 
matter for trouble, she threw it away with the refuse for soap. 
Mr. Emerson, however, had heard of the gift, and came home 
to inquire, too late, after his expected dinner. 

Thus the town was entered upon, cleared and populated. 
Man had his homes in the wilderness of the deer, and the 
wolf and the bear. And the varied scenes of human history 
began here to be enacted. 

The revolutionary war was soon coming on. Our fathers, 
though poorly prepared at that early day to contribute in car- 
rying it forward, yet entered heartily upon it. They made haste 
in 1774: to assure the Boston committee of correspondence that 
they should join with them in " all Lawful and Salutary 
Measures for the Recovery of those Inestimable Priviledges 
"Wrested from us, and firmly to secure those that remain, for 
we are sensible," — say they — " yt should we Renounce our 
Liberty and Priviledges we should Renounce the Quality of 
men and the Rights of humanity." They shortly directed that 
the selectmen should provide " Two barrels of powder and 
lead and flints answerable for a town stock of ammunition." 
(From the first the town had kept some "stock" of these 
articles). They "Established a Resolve," appointing a commit- 
tee of thirteen men to have an eye on the conduct of any per- 
sons that should " Do or speak anything that tends to Hender 
Uniting of the People in opposing ye kings laws yt Infringed oi^ 



48 

their rights," and to adjudge to such persons " a Certain Compe- 
tency of Punishment to be Inflicted on them not Exceeding the 
punishment of Contempt and Neglect ; " and they added the 
restriction, " Yt the said Committy nor no Other person shall 
not have power to go oat of this town Except it be to assist a 
mob in the General Good Cause (viz.) in Prohibiting Persons 
taking or holding Commissions under the Present Constitution, 
Except it be for their own perticular Bisness."* This com- 
mittee of thirteen, as at first chosen, consisted of Dea. Sara. 
Wells, Dea. Joel Baker, Lt. Thomas French, Jonas Rice, 
Oliver Wetmore, Cyrus Rice, Consider Arms, Robert Oliver, 
James Dickinson, Israel Gates, Josiah Boyden, Elisha Clark 
and Alexander Oliver. In July, 1775, the old committee was 
dismissed, Capt. Arms and some others beginning to hold back 
from extreme measures, and Samuel Crittenden, Jonathan 
"Whitney, Malachi Maynard, James Gilmore, John Thwing, 
Jonas Rice, Isaac Amsden, Capt. Clark and Israel Rice were 
put in their stead. 

On the 24-th of May, 1776, being assembled at the meeting 
house, and having appointed a committee to frame the vote 
they proceeded to declare that " If the Honorable Continantial 
Congress Should think it Requisit for the Safety of the iSTorth- 
american Coloneys on this Continent to Declare a State of In- 
dependency of Greatbriton that we will abide By and Conform 
to their wisdom to the Expense of our lives and fortunes." im- 
pressed, it geeras with the weigh tiness of the occasion, the re- 
cording officer adds : "N, B. The above menchaned meeting 
was Called on purpose for the above business and the Town 
Yoted Affairmative 83, Negative 6. Cyrus Rice, Moderat or. 



* At about this time, Jan. 177;"), the minds of our fathers became exercised, not 
to say unsettled, in the affiiir of a representative to the general court, or congress 
of the colony, in which Conway and Dcerfield were then associated. The record 
Stands "Being put to Vote whether they will agree with Deerfield in the Delegate 
they Chose. Voted in the Negative. Voted that they will Eeconsider the last 
Vote. Being put to Vote Wheather they will Establish the former Vote, Voted in the 
aflBrmative. Voted they will Reconsider the last vote and Send no Delegate to 
the Congress, Neither from Deerfield Nor Conway." It may be guessed that the 
matter of pay to be drawn from the town entered into these reconsiderations. 



49 

A trew coppy from the Minits, attest, Oliver Wetmore, Town 

Clerk."* 

They stood resolutely by this pledge through the war. 

^ The number of men they furnished is not known. It 
was as many as was called for. The names are not 
all preserved; many have been already mentioned. In 
1777, when Burgoyne was marching from the north, every 
able bodied man went out to meet him.f It was thought 
when he sent off Baum toward Bennington, that he meant 
to strike across the country eastward to the seaboard. 
The alarm was beat on the Sabbath day by the meeting 
house. Boys were sent to spread the call. One of them, a 
son of Robert Hamilton, seven years old then, was living 
three years ago and could tell of the errand he went on. He 
could remember, too, how there was left in that neighborhood 
but one, a lame man, who helped the women and boys gather 
in the corn on the farms. Mother and boy were little ready 
for the work. It was the year of the great sickness and the 
maddest autumn harvest our town has ever known. One was 
;aken of nearly every twelve of all its inhabitants. And of 
;he children there must have been buried one for every three 

^r four. 

The fear of invasion this year led to more apprehension con- 

"cerning the resident tories. At a town meeting held Aug. 
24th, :{: it was resolved "to proceed to some measure to Secure 
the Enemical persons Called Tories amongst us ;" and 
the account goes on, "then the Question was Put Wheather 



'* Until the spring of this year,,Consider Arms had bsen clerk. He had wished 
to be excused before the expiration of his term. But the town directed him to go 
on and keep the record ; as if he liked it. He was a decided but not a violent tory. 
His connections with Deerfield may have helped to draw him that way. 

tThis turning out for a tima of all that; could bear arms has mvl2 it diffi3ult to 
learn by the family traditions only who were the regular continental soldiers from 
the town. Some of those named as in the war were probably only out a short 
time. Of those called out in the fall of 1777 a part returned after hearing of the 
victory of Stark ; while some went on to the Hudson and were present at the sur- 
render of Burgoyne. 

jSome had by this time returned from the march to Bennington ; and ther^ 
were others remaining at home for disability, 



50 

we would Draw a lino between ye Continent and Great 
Briton. Voted in the affiarniative. Voted tliat all those 
Persons that Stand on the Side of the Contanant Take 
np arms and go on hand and hand with us in Carrjdiig 
on the war against our Unnatural Enemies, Sueh we lieceive 
as Friends and all others treat as Enemies. Voted that the 
Broad alley be a line, and the South End of tlie meeting 
hous be the Continant Side, and the jN'orth End the British 
Side then moved for Trial and found 6 persons to stand on the 
British Side (viz.) Elijah Billings, Jonathan Oakes, Wui. 
Billings, Joseph Catlin, Joel Dickinson and Elias Dickinson. 
Voted to set a gard over those Eiiemical persons. Voted the 
Town Clerk Emmediately Desire Judge Mather to Issew out his 
warrants against those Enemical persons returned to him in a 
list heretofore." These six only, of the score or so of tories 
that may have been in the town, seem to have chosen to at- 
tend tlic meeting that day. Tliey were less malignant than 
in some other towns. And there was little or no violence 
used against them. A sharp eye only was kept on them at 
critical times, and their guns were taken away. After the 
war, Capt. Arms, by much persistence, got his gun again 
in his own keeping. 

In 1778 the town voted to accept the propositions made by the 
Continental Congress for a union between the states. The towns 
were of consequence in those early times. Botii in tliis case and 
in deliberating a little later upon the adoption of a State (consti- 
tution, tlie business was conducted ahnost as if thelocal organ- 
ization had been an independent nation. There was no 
returning of votes I'or and against to be counted along with 
votes from other towns, as is now done. The town voted, 
bodily, one way or the other on the whole proposition, or if it 
saw fit, on each of its parts, accepting or rejecting; or advis- 
ing to such modifications as were desired. 

Throughout the revolutionary period the curiency was in 
a very unsettled state. The government issned paper money to 
carry on the war. This caused inflation and high prices 
Our fathers, not wiser than others of tlieir generation, under- 
took to check tliG rise by establiBliing fi.xed rates for work and 



6i 

comraodities. The following are specimens, from" among 
many, of the prices settled npon. ''Men's labor three shillings 
per day in the summer season :" "fresh Poark of the best qual- 
ity," three pence per pound ; " good grass fed beef," 
two pence one farthing ; "Best Cheas" six pence ; "good 
Spanish potatoes in the fall of the year" one shilling ; "Yern 
Stockings of the best sort" six shillings "a pare ;" "good Sap 
berials" tlu'ce shillings, and "all other cooper work in p)'opor- 
tion ;" "good common meals of Victuals at Taverns Exclusive 
of Sider" ninepence, and "other meals in proportion ;" 
"Ilorsekeeping a Night, or twenty-foar howers" ten pence ; 
"shoeing horses all round. Steal, tow and heal," six shillings 
four pence ; "good yerd wide toa cloth" two shillings three 
pence, and "other cloth in proportion ;" "a man with a sufficient 
team to plow or drag shant exceed" six shillings per day ; "hors 
travel" two pence "per mile ;" "to pasturing a hoi'se on good 
feed" one shilling six pence;" a _yoak of oxen" two shillings, 
and all other creatures in proportion." It is hard to keep the 
stream from rising while the rain continues to fall. This leg- 
islation did not prevent the town from subsequently paying 
Daniel Xewhall lifteen dollars per day for "ten days riding to 
hire money" to pay soldiers; and twenty dollars for a man's 
work on the highway. 

Near the end of the war it was voted in town meeting to 
ask the General Court for liberty to make a Lottery with 
Deerfield to raise money to build a bridge over Deerfield river. 
An item which I note for the comfort of those who arc pained 
by the corruption of these degenerate days. 

When independence came it did not bring at once prosperity 
with it. The war had made people poor; and the_y were 
poor before. Large, sums of money had been called for. 
•Many were brought into debt, and this, together with the de- 
preciation of the continental money to almost utter worthless- 
ncss, caused great distress. The times came when without 
law a man worked a day for twenty cents in silver. Mean- 
while, and out of these causes, arose the disreputable troubles 
connected with Shay's rebellion. Poverty and debts brought 
it on. The pressure of them is to be admitted in palliation. 



52" 

But for the reason in what was attempted, impartial history 
and all sober reflection have pronounced it tbll_y. Courts 
were to be broken up and governments overthrown that 
debts might not be collected. Yet the delusion bore away 
men of clear minds and of unquestionable patriotism. Mal- 
achi Maynard, Capt. Dinsmore, and our "Capt. Barefoot" and 
many others, mostly from the southern half of the town, went 
into tlie riotous and revolutionary proceedings. And there 
was great sympathy with the movement through the whole 
town; and a very few only resolutely opposed it. Along with 
much other action of the same sort it was voted, Oct. 24th, 
1785, to instruct our representative to use his influence in the 
General Court "to have a Bank of Paper money emitted that 
shall sink one penny a pound per month." The clearness that 
belongs through all time to what is financial is in this. We 
cannot wonder that, meditating on such matters, the men of 
the south end concluded to rebel. 

During all this period Conway was growing rapidly in pop- 
ulation, both by natural increase and by immigration from 
abroad. Of those who came in were the Rowlands — of whom 
we have the orator of to-day — with a pedigree straight from 
the Mayflower, the Wares and the Billinges, with Clary, Par- 
sons, Cliilds, Field, Dunliam, Hopkins, Bigelow, Hayden, 
Stebbins and Andrews, with very many others. The popula- 
tion of Conway in ITUO was 2092. There were but two larger 
towns in the county of Hampshire, embracing what are now 
the three river counties. These was West Springfield and West- 
field. The rank of some of the principal towns was then as 
follows. West Springfield, 2367, Westfield, 2204, Conway, 
2092, Northampton 1G28, Springfield 1574, Greenfield 1498, 
Deerfield 1330. The figures for Conway throughout its first 
hundred years may here be given. Dat > of Incorj oration, 
estimated population 200. 1769 estimated by Mr. Emerson 
between 400 and 500 ; 1776, 905 ; 1790, 2092 ; 1800, 2013 ; 
1810, 1784; 1820, 1705; 1830, 1563; 1840, 1409; 1850, 
1831 ; 1860, 1689. The number was at the highest between 
1790 and 1800. Tlie farm houses stood tliickly over all the 



63 

hills. Tliere were tliirtj on the road from the old meeting- 
house over Field's Hill and Popple Hill, to the Whately line. 
These houses were well filled withal ; ten or twelve children 
being often foundin one dwelling. Tlie Schools also were large, 
much beyond what they are now. In the Broomshire 
district there were once nearly one hundred scholars ; now 
there are scarcely twenty. As late as 1816 William A. How- 
land kept a school of more than sixty scholars in his own, the 
East side district, (late No. 2,) which district, having almost 
no children, has ceased to have a separate existence. These 
are but specimens. 

At this period Conway, suitably to its position as a leading 
town, had its newspaper. It was the Farmer's Register, pub- 
lished weekly in the years 1798 and 1799, by Theodore 
Leonard. It was printed first in the house now occupied by 
Osee Adams, (then standing a little south-east of where the 
Baptist meeting house now is, and afterwards used as a. tin- 
shop,) and later " a few rods north of the meeting house " in 
Pumpkin Hollow, in the building recently occuj)ied by Lucy 
Severance. It had for its motto the lines from Thomson : — 

" Here truth unlicensed reigns, and dares accost 
Even kings themselves, or rulers of the free." 

Both truth and error must in fact have " reigned " with- 
out license or other control, in Mr. Leonard's paper. He 
had no editorial sentiments, and published with a looseness 
whatever came to his hand, on all sides. Part was Federal, 
part Republican, part moral, part more thoroughly the 
opposite than would be tolerated in any paper now cir- 
culating among us, — which again it is hoped may com- 
fort a little those that mourn for the times. As a spec- 
imen of the political discussions then springing up, I give 
here a few sentences from a " Political Dialogue," printed 
in the Register, for 'Nov. 10, 1798, and copied from the 
" Delaware and Eastern Shore Advertiser " ; there being 
also printed with it a note from the " Dedhatn Minerva," out 
of which the whole was taken, deprecating the conclusion 
that ''the editor is advocating the sentiments therein con- 
tained ;" — 



64: 

" Qiies.—'Who were our late common enemies ? 
^?is.— The British. 

g Who murdered in cold Wood our sleeping- citizens at the 
Jruoli ; 

^.— The British. 

g.-Who now courts an alliance with and hugs to their bosom 
those same Englishmen ? 

A. — The Federalists. 

C-*.— Why do they do it? 

^.—Because like them they adore a kingly g-overnmont 

g.— Who are the men who uniformly opposed the independ- 
ence of t!ie United States, and aided either openly or secretly 
the mercenary legions of George the Third, in devastating our 
devoted country ? '^ 

A. — The Tories. 

(?.— Who are the men that have co-operated with those Tories 
adopted their political principles, and in concert with them pur- 
sue measures destructive of the rights and liberties of the 
citizens ? 

^.— The Federalists. 

(?.-VVho promised the farmers a guinea a bushel for their 
wheat, if this same treaty was ratified ?* 

A. — The Aristocrats. 

(?.— Did they ever make good their promises ? 

^.— No, nor ever intended. 

g._Who are the men who in their private and public conver- 
sations speak contemptuously of a Eepublican Government and 
are loud in applauding Monarchy and Aristocracy ? 

A. — The Federalists. 

(? -Who are the men that cajole, and flatter, and deceive the 
people m order to obtain public appointments, and when in office 
brand them with the opprobrious epithets of Ignorant Plebians, 
Swinish Multitude, etc. ?" ' 

And under many more such lieavy interrogations are " the 
J^ederahsts made to stand. It is plain to be observed that 
there is herein sounded tlie key-note on tlie Republican side 
ot the long strain of controversy that followed. ' 

* The " British Treaty " of 1705, negotiated by Jaj. 



55 

News from "Washino-ton was published in Conway in twenty 
days, and from London, sometimes in sixty, sometimes in nine- 
ty da^ys. Tlie advertisements Averc largely of stock, lost or 
taken np, Asaliel Wood, the negro, gave notice to the people 
that he" proposed to discontinue ringing the bell but once a 
day, unless some encouragenjent was given him, by subscrip- 
tion or otherwise." The poet's corner is full of Delias and 
Clorindas, after the dull manner of all the poetry of the 
18th century. 

Mr. Leonard also printed in 1798, the Hymn book of Elder 
Goddard, already referred to. 

With the growth of the town the Baptist Chnrchhad before 
this time been formed. It was organized Oct. 3d, 1788, with 
eleven male, and probably eigliteen female members. The 
first meeting house was built in 1790 or 1791, south of the 
Capt. Arms house, and near the spot Avliere the Conway Tool 
Sliop a few years since stood. It was left nnfinislicd, and 
was not occupied in winter. About the year 1810 it was 
removed to the place where the present house stands. This, 
the last house, was built in 1840. Amos Shevi appears to 
have been the first preacher. But the first pastor was Calvin 
Keyes, who was ordained Nov. 7th, 1799, and whose pastorate 
continued more than twenty years. During his ministry 
there were two extensive revivals, in one of which, in 1806 
or 1807, there were added to the clmrcli fifty-five persons, and 
in another in 1816, forty persons. The church was disbanded 
March 21tli, 1819, and re-constituted June It^tli, 18S0. Soon 
after this Eev. David Pease, who is with us to-day, became 
pastor. He has been minister of the church at tliree dift'erent 
times, amounting in all to ten years. During his first pastor- 
ate the church gained strength, but was still feeble, seldom 
raising m.ore than $200 a year, for support of preaching. In 
earlier times it had withheld any fixed salary from its minis- 
ters, as a matter of principle. For the last eighteen or twenty 
years preaching has been sustained constantly. The whole 
amount now raised annually for church expenses, is |1000. 
Tiie present number of members is eighty-eight. The pastor 
is Rev. J. J. Townsend. 



66 



This record of the Baptist church should not be passed by 
without reference to tlie ill feeh'ng, now happilj all gone, 
which once existed between the Baptists in our town, and the 
Congregahonalists, or supporters of the so-called "standing, 
order From early colonial times the general fact in law was 

Zlln '"'"T ^^'^^'^.^^^^'^^ '^' tlie support of Congregational 
preaching. Some of the exceptions to this fact wni^soon be 
noticed. The working of this law necessarily stirred iip bad 
blood; especially in the later periods, when " dissenters," as 
they were termed, began to be numerous. The Congregation- 
ahsts having been the founders of the colony, and havin<. 

r4r 1 'T1 '^'!l' ^^^^°^^ ^^^^"^^- P---°' --to 
regard the land and the state as their own ; and thev looked 

on a Baptist minister as an interloper. In the quari^els that 
a o,e they were most in fault ; as from the nature of the case 
they must almost necessarily have been. They have got out 
of this business to the most discredit and real dama.e,-as 
they deserved to. It is still remembered of that most excel- 
lent and ordinarily well behaving Christian, Parson Emerson 

in7] l"^/! r"l ^^"'''' "^"^" '^ ^'^'''' Elder was preach: 
mg, he had to be shown the door of the house for his insolent 
manners. It is also to be allowed on the other hand tha 
there were Baptists wlio were not unwilling to be abased 
for the use they could make of it in reproaches.* 

Ihelaws of that period have this partial justification only 
m tiie fact that our fathers in Massachusetts could not then 
have been expected to have learned the lessons laid up for tlie 
next age; and in the belief they had that religion could not 
flourish, nor consequently the institutions of civil society be 
maintained unless all were compelled to aid in supporting 
public worship. ^ ^ '^ 

It ouglit also to be stated, since it appears not to be gener- 
ally known, that provision had begun to be made long before 
for relieving the hardships of conscientious "dissenters.'' 

* This has been so in all like cases, and comes of universal human nature 

Toso TV?" '" T" '''™' '™°"^ "^' ""'' '^'^" s'™" '' ^'^ f^-«"^ ^1- "^-"o: 

nes of Baptists; and among others, several years since, by a no less valuable 
authority thaq the late Mrs. John Arms. ^-iJuaoie 



5T 

From a date earlier fhan tlie first settlement in Conway it 
has been legally j)ossiblc in Massaclinsetts for a man who be- 
longed to a TBaptist society, and who worshipped with it, to 
secure the payment of his tax in tliat direction. It might go 
first, witli all the rest, into tlie hands of the town treasurer ; 
but there were means of getting it out again. Yet it is true 
that the bias of judges, and the prejudices of local officers, 
might often make this difficult. Moreover there might fre- 
quently arise a donl^t as to the legal fact of the existence of 
the "dissenting" society, the certificate of membership in 
which was needed. Regularity of meeting, with preaching, 
was required. In our town this was doubtless for many years 
the legal point of difficulty which the Baptists encountered. 
The law of the State offered no other. In tlie neighboring 
town of Ashfield, concerning which so much has been said, 
this should not have existed. Morever it should be said that 
in Conway the hardsliips of Baptist tax payers were more than 
once relieved by direct vote of the town. That man whose 
vindication of his 'rio;hts in his own house against Parson 
Emerson lias before been mentioned, was one of those in 
whose behalf this interposition was made. This much has 
been said concerning the law on this point, in order tliat the 
errors of the past may be only correctly estimated, and tluit 
the good name in history of our Commonwealth may suffer 
no farther abatement than exact truthfulness requires. The 
successive steps by whicli the connection between town and 
parish was loosened, until in 1834 it was wholly broken up, 
need not here be traced. It is a sign of progress, and a mat- 
ter of grateful recognition, that the temper of men is not now 
so tried or exhibited, and that the fellowship of Ou'istians is 
not so broken. 

There is a story of curious interest concerning certain 
Baptist apple trees said to have been taken in Ashfield in 
distress and sold in Conway for non-payment of minister's 
tax. Being led to suppose that this could not have been a 
legal business, and that apple trees could never by right of 
law have been taken for discharge of town taxes of any sort, 
and wishing to be confirmed in my belief in this point, I have 
8 



58 

eeenred the opinion at length of my valued friend, the Attor- 
ney General of the Commonwealth.* He is clear in his 
statement that the law permitted nothing of the kind. Omit- 
ting the argument, I quote only some concluding portions: — 
" It follows as a legal consequence tJiat they could never law- 
fullj' be distrained upon. The probability is no such thing 
was ever done. If it was a good action in law would have 
lain to recover damages. Since the deed was done so long 
ago I fear under the statute of limitation no legal remedy re- 
mains. But wo can and you shall denounce the heartless 
tax-collector. * * * But you may rest assured 

no apple-trees were ever taken. Our ancestors were not fools. 
But even fools have an insight amounting to genius, as to 
what is exempt from seizure for taxes and debts. It is in this 
respect more than any other that the wisdom of the learned 
in the law is confounded by tlie teaching of the simple." 

The clearest reasoning will not undo what may happen to 
have been done. But we are taught in what light the matter 
is to be regarded. That ancient Ashlield man of the lost 
apple trees is by no means deserving of our sympathy, but he 
should much rather be blamed for suffering the public law to 
be so violated upon himself. One of the trees reported to 
have been thus carried off, is now standing on the grounds of 
Horace B. Childs, Esq. I have tried the apples, and their 
taste is as if either the tree had not been removed at all, or 
had been illegally removed. 

The population of the town, as has been said, was greatest 
near the close of the last century. It was at this period that 
there began the great outward flow of emigration from us to 
the westward, which has not ceased to the present time. It 
went first to Central and Western New York, then to 
Northern Ohio, then beyond to Michigan and Illinois, and 
then still further to Iowa, or wherever now the West may be. 
How many have gone is not known. But the descendants of 
these children of Conway towards the West must far out- 

* Charles Alien, Esq., of Franklin County, who should have been born in 
Conway. 



69 

number those that still remain upon her soil. One may trav- 
el over all that region and rest morning, noon, and night, in 
the liomes of these ConAvay men. Viewed in all its results 
the going out from us of tliis great emigration is not perhaps 
to be regretted. We may wish, however, that it had not been 
accelerated and indeed necessitated by the improvident hus- 
bandry of the first generations of farmers. The soil was 
thriftlessly drawn from and its riches spent. The steep and 
fruitful hill-sides were plowed and sowed, and suffered to be 
washed by the rains, often for many successive years, until 
they wouid yield no more. The effects of this wretched cul- 
ture are still too plainly visible. The process of waste has 
been arrested; and it may be hoped it is being reversed. It 
is believed that the productive capacity of the soil is at 
present increasing rather than diminishing. As interested in 
the prosperity of the town we must regret however that so 
much of the best pasturing ground we have, in the east and 
south, is passing into the possession of non-resident owners. 

It is to be said, moreover, that the men of this middle period 
of our history did not make in all cases the most profitable 
use of what the soil could produce. Enormous crops of 
apples were raised, which went into cider, and then into 
brandy. It seemed to be nialdng rich those that sold, but it 
made poor more that bought, or that drank of their own pro- 
duction. There were pi'obably fifty cider mills and upwards, 
and there were at the least six distilleries, all in operation at 
the same time. One of them consumed a thousand barrels of 
cider annually. Brandy took oft' much barn boarding, and 
overthrew many fences and men. Parson Emerson, in 1819, 
congratulated the town that it had " so few comparatively 
downright sots." Yet bespeaks with earnestness against the 
evil. And there was need that the word " compai-atively " 
should then be introduced. The change from that time, if it 
is not complete, is a great and happy one. 

The first grist mill was built about the year 1767, by Caleb 
Sharp. Another was built in 1770 or 1771, below the Thwing 
place, in the north part of the town. There was also a third 
for a few^ years on Bear river, above the Macomber bridge. 



Co 

Every one bolted his own grist at first, in a hand-bolt. Saw 
mills were in operation all along South river, and on some 
other streams. There "vverc several tanneries, while the hem- 
lock bark held ont. One establishment of this kind is now in 
operation, located on Sonth river, near tlic Post office, and 
owned by Wm. T. Clapp. Yery near the site of this tannery 
Aaron Ilayden set np a " fulling mill," about 1780. About 
1797 Dr. Moses Hayden, with (his son-in-law,) R, Wells, made 
an addition of an oil mill. The cakes of meal rolled into 
the river, save as the boys took them to play " grindstone." 
In 1810 tliere was estt^blished here a broadcloth mannfactory, 
and ai^ain a cotton mill ; and with changes and disasters the 
concern was finally destroyed by tire, in 185G, under 
the management of B. W. "VVriii;ht. The woolen mill of the 
Conway Manufacturing Company, incorporated in 1837, was 
built nearly half a mile higher up tlie stream. A larger one, 
•whicli now stands, replaced the first not far from 1840. It 
was under the direction and subsequent ownership of Edmund 
Burke, whose name the upper village bears. And it has now 
passed into the possession of Edward Delabarre. Midway 
between these two is a cotton mill, erected in 1846, by Gen. 
James S. Whitne}^ and Ciiarles Wells, burned in 1856 wliile 
owned by L. B, Wright, replaced, and now owned by the firm 
of Tucker & Cook. These parties have built in 1S66 a fine 
stone dam, making a large reservoir, a mile westward up the 
river. Three quarters of a mile below the Post office, Messrs. 
Tucker & Cook also own a cotton mill, erected in 1837, by 
Gen. Asa ilowland. A large manufactory of tools was estab- 
lished in Barkeville, under the direction of Alonzo Parker, 
not far from 1845, about forty rods above the woolen mill. 
The building was burned in 1851, and the company removed 
to Greenfield. The South River Cutlery Company began 
operations in 1851, erecting a building in Burkeville, on the 
right bank of the river, toward tlie old center of the 
town. Here for four or five years were made knives, 
forks, and great losses, until the business was closed 
np, and the buildings at length mostly removed. Besides 
these the coiub manufacture was formerly carried on by Dea. 



01 

Jonathan Ware, and by liis sons, at tlie place now occupied 
bj Lemuel S. Boies. And tin ware lias been made from an 
early period, at one time largely in Sherman Corner, and since 
then at various establishments in the middle of the town. 
The Conway Stock and Mutual Fire Insurance Company be- 
gan business in 1819, The Stock Company subsequently went 
to Boston, and to final grievous dissolution. The Mutual de- 
partment remains and prospers. The Conway Bank has a 
Capital of $150,000, and has been in successful operation 
since 1851, 

The first record of voting for Governor of the State, appears 
in September, 1780, soon after the adoption of the State 
Constitution. The record is on this wise : 



Men's Names who wave Chosen for a 
Governor. 


Number of Votes for the 
Same. 


Honorable 
JoHS Hancock 
John Adams, Esq. 


45 
1 



For many years when John Hancock, patriot and re])ubli- 
can, was Candidate for Governor, he took almost tlie entire 
vote ; though on other offices there was division. As parties 
besan to form near the end of the century Conway became 
Federalist, Tliere are strong reasons for thinking that purely 
political considerations would not in our town, have led to this 
result. There were tendencies, from the time of Shay's re- 
bellion, and from the revolution, looking in the other direction. 
But the supposed, or real, pointing of the great figure of 
"Washington was towards the Federal side. And the dread 
especially of infidel sentiments in religion associated witli the 
name of JefiPerson, proved decisive here, as it did throughout 
most of Xew England. Yet there were Kepublicans in re- 
spectable numbers.* In 1801 the vote stood, Federal 134, 

* They did not apply to themselves the term Democrat, 



62 

Kepnblican 63.* In 1808 Gore, (Fed.) had 142 votes for 
Governor, and Snllivan, (Rep.) 123. In 1812 Strong, (Fed.) 
received 181, Gerry, (Rep.) 136. These figures represent tlie 
ordinary relative strength of the two parties. The town rep- 
resentatives were all one wa3^ The first gap in the Federal 
succession occurs in 1821:, when John Arms was chosen. 
But this was after the lines were broken, and while we were 
" All Republicans, all Federalists." 

During the earlier years, embracing the period from the 
beginning of the century to the close of the war with Eng- 
land, the contest was carried on, as it was over all the country, 
with great zeal. There was also a degree of personal animos- 
ity which has not been equalled since, so far as relates to our 
town or this section of the country, in the history of our 
politics. Political feeling entered then far more than now 
into the relations of social life. . Opposition of party between 
some families at times seriously disturbed neighborly inter- 
course. Political agreement, on the other hand, aided more 
powerfully perhaps than it has since, in the formation of 
friendly connections.f 

Mauy incidents are preserved from those times, illustrating 
the liveliness of political feeling that then existed. AVhen 
either party raised a " liberty pole," it was not an easy thing 
to keep the flag on its statf. Upon the day before a Fourth of 
July the Republicans lifted one in and above the elm tree by 
I he Baptist meeting house. That flag they declared should fly 
undisturbed ; and that the thing might be made sure, they set 
an armed watch through the night in the meetinghouse. But 
Jesse Severance walked carelessly under the tree and leaned 

* A property qualification being required, the number of voters was relatively 
less than now. 

t There was an instance of this in the very close friendship subsisting between 
the three active republicans, John Anns, Col. Joseph Eice, and Dr. Wm. Hamilton, 
with their families ; and of which many recollections still remain. Wm. Hamilton 
died young, but not before he had shown himself conspicuously, both in his profes- 
sion and beyond it, a man of mark. Joseph Rice lived also to but little beyond 
middle ago. But John Arms was long among us, with his strong will and quick 
perceptions and unfiling memory, — one of the most remarkable men for native 
endowment that the town has ever produced. 



63 

against it, and Levi Parsons ran up from his shonlders, where- 
after what seemed tlie one man walked leisurely away. Bat 
with the morning light the republican watchers saw not the 
flag of their country. 

The adventure also of the old Deerfield gun into 
our town at this period, should be recorded. This gun 
is a legacy that the town had from the Indian wars. It ap- 
peared to some of our younger Eepublicans that, since 
Conway was early a part of Deerfield, and since Deerfield 
had become Federal, and since before in the revolution it was 
always near to being Tory, — it appeared to them that the can- 
non should be allowed a breath of difterent air. The unusual 
circumstance of the election in Massachusetts of a Republican 
Governor* greatly confirmed them in this impression. So it 
was that year that on the morning of the " old fashioned 
Election," or Inauguration Day, the voice of the gun was 
heard, deep and strong, and frfiquent, from the Conway hills. 
The Deerfield men listened and comprehended. But they 
also disapproved. They armed themselves and swarmed out 
in great anger upon the Conway road, Gen. Hoyt being mili- 
tary leader, and all together the posse of Sheriff Saxton. 
The report of the coming invasion spread, and a crowd was 
collected to hold the gun ; or to see how the matter would go 
on. But the business grew serious, and the end was near to 
have been made in blood-shed. The cannon was carried 
into Wm. Rcdfield's boarding house.f " Bill Redfield " was 
of violent temper, and stood at nothing ; and there were oth- 
ers with him o+^ the same sort. They were ready to try keep- 
ing the house and the gun against all the Federalists of Deer- 
field. But the law looked the other way, — and so after re- 
flection, did the more sober men of the party.' The piece was 
finally surrendered ; but with a distinct agreement that it 
should not be fired by the Deerfield men within the bounds of 
the town. So the old cannon went sullenly back along the 

* Either Sullivan or Gerry. 

+ Now part of the long house on the hill, opposite and south-east from the 
Baptist Meeting House ; and standing then on the same spot. The boarders 
were mostly workmen in the tin shop across the way. 



64: 

road over whicli it had passed as it came up with a brisk step 
and sounding clieer.* 

The contest over this gun has been continued in more 
recent times by the young men of Greenfield, whicli town 
Avas also formerly included in Deerfield. The right of the 
matter is clear, and has happily become well fixed by time. 
The ownership of the gnn belongs with Deerfield only; and 
Deerfield has a right to keep it, while Conway and Greenfield 
have no right except to remove it whenever they can from 
Deerfield. f 

The second war with England made little stir among us of 
a military sort, except that in 18] i, when there was an^'alarm 
of British invasion on the coast, there went down a regiment 
from this section. Tlie late Gen. Thomas Langley of Hawley, 
was in command as Colonel, and Gen. Asa Howland, of our 
town, Avas Major. Tliis was "Gov. Strong's war." The 
British prudently determined to have no part in it. 

"= There arc various accounts respecting the personal influences among the re- 
publicans, by which the keepers of the gun Avere at last, and with the° greatest 
difficulty, prevailed on to give it up. The truth is that no single person secured the 
final result. Jose])h Rice had been sent for at (he beginning of the trouble, anJ 
had urged that the laws should be respected. John Arms concurred ; yet there was 
that in him to which giving up came not most naturally; and it is clearly remem- 
bered that something of that quality came to light on this occasion. The oppor- 
tune coming up at a later hour of Wm. Hamilton, decided the balance, inclining 
before, but still tremulously, towards peace. Altogether the escape from hard 
fighting was a narrow one. 

t It was thought of as desirable that tliis ancient arm should be here with us 
to-day, to take a part in our celebration. It is due to the Deerfield authorities to 
say that they have spoken courteously of us in this connectie,-, and are understood 
to have been willing to grant us the loan of the piece. It is allowed also that the 
gun has been well cared for by them, having been sacredly kept in the bottoms of 
rivers, and in the sub-soil of old fields. Notwithstanding it is reported to have 
gotten into rust, and to be like to split. It was said not to be best for this reason 
to ask for its use to-day. But the soul of the historian has nothing of rest, unless 
he passes down all that is true to the coming time. I must therefore record that 
it was reckoned by us a small matter that the instrument should bo here, except it 
were honorably brought, according to the due manner of the gun. But, occupied 
as we were, and embarrassed also by the uncertainties incident to the before men- 
tioned pious care with which the weapon is preserved, to proceed in that rightful 
order did not appear to be convenient. We must all hope that with the next return 
of our centennial commemoration, this failure of our present observance may be 
appropriately repaired, 



65 

When new political connections began to be made in the 
times of John Qnincy Adams, and of Jackson, the town 
swung to the Whig side. Yet there was again a strong mi- 
nority with what had then become the Democratic party. 
Questions growing out of the Temperance reform, entered 
here also largely into town politics. And between 1830 and 
1840 the choice of representatives was influenced by these 
nearly or quite as much as by national politics. The voice of 
the town in the Legislature for most of these years was given 
against the reform. But in this respect that was an excep- 
tional period. In 1840 the Presidential vote stood, Harrison, 
(Whig,) 171 , Yan Buren, (Dem.) 134. In 1844, Clay, (Whig,) 
147, Polk, (Dem.) 119. In those years respectively. Dr. E. 
D. Hamilton and Capt. Otis Childs represented the town in 
the Legislature. In 1848, Taylor, (Whig,) had 133, Cass, 
(Dem.) 89. In 1852 Scott, (Whig,) 181, Pierce, (Dem.) 131. 

Our townsman. Gen. James L. Whitney, whose presence 
we miss to-day, was on this Democratic electoral ticket. Ho 
had been representative in 1850, and he was chosen again in 
1853. Saving these years all had been Whigs since 1838. 

These were the days of " the Coalition," a species of union 
which I am not now able very exactly to describe, made in 
Massachusetts between the Democratic party and the " Free 
Soil " party, then rising in numbers. For several years our 
town was more evenly divided between Whiggery and Coa- 
lition, than it has ever been before or since on any other 
political issue. And as the choice of Governor frequently 
devolved upon the Legisl'ature, no one having the popular 
majority then required, the contest for representative became 
active and exciting. There may be some of ns still living 
who have faint recollections of those times. We may have 
heard also, of committee meetings late and early, of diligent 
study of the voting list, of hunting trips and cattle driving 
expeditions, planned for election day for patriotic young men 
and others, and of various reported chicaneries, said to have 
been devised for effect upon the doubtful ballot. Tliose and 
such like things, — being unwilling to rest upon mere report, — 
I record^uot. But I willingly recall ^these traditions, and 
9 



66 

the memories also of mTic]i Whig and Coalition feasting and 
merriment, in the narrow halls of tlie Conway Hotel, be- 
cause there was good temper in it all; and because, looking 
back upon it from across the sterner days we have known, the 
sight is pleasing. May there be in the coming times contests 
for principles and laws and policies, or even for men, but 
not struggles for government and national existence itself. 
The passage of the " Nebraska Bill " in the spring of 1854, 
destroyed the national Whig party, weakened before, and 
brought into life the modern Eepublicanism. In 1856, Con- 
way gave to Fremont, (Rep.) 139 votes, to Buchanan, (Dem.) 
81. The vote for Grovernor for the same year stood, Gardner, 
(Native American, or "Know Nothing,") 129, Quincy, (Rep.) 
104, Beach, (Dem.) 81. In 1860 all was Republican, Lincoln 
receiving 218 out of 260 votes. And at ]iis re-election in 
1864 there were given him 223, and to Gen. McClellan 62. 

It needs not here to be marked that these were the years 
of war for the Union, and for Freedom. The shock of the 
opening fight, the shouts of the early enthusiasm, the days 
of gloom, the alternations of fear and of hope that followed, 
the steadfast purpose that did not change, the noise at last, ' 
crash after crash, as the rebellion fell, and ringing over all 
the mighty sound of triumph for Liberty and Union, proved 
to be inseparable, and both made certain to abide,— all these 
are hardly yet as of yesterday. 

The names of the brave men who went forth from among 
us are here given, as they stand upon the Records of the 
Town.* 



Date Enlistment. 
June, ISfJl. 



Name. 
J. Dickinson Allis. 
Alonzo H. Warren. 
AVelcome F. Cone. 
Wm. H. Adams. 
Horace W. Graves. 
E. G. Haj'den. 

John P. Clark. 
Edward R. Gardner, 



Reg. 
Mass. 10th. 



Remarks. 
Died in service Jan. 5, '63. 

Killed in battle May, '64. 

Wao;oner. 

Discharged on account of 

sickness, 1861. 
Re-enlisted in 1864. 
Killed at battle of Fair 

Oaks, May 31, 1863. 



* Tiis list was furnished by H. W. Billings, Esq., Clerk of the town. 



67 



l)ate Enlistment. 
1861. 



1S61. 
Aug. 1861. 



July, 1863. 



Ang. 1861. 



Sept. 5, 1864. 
Aug. 1861. 



July, 1863. 
July, 1863. 



Name. 
F. E. Hartwell. 
Alouzo Bates. 



W. Rollia Smith. 



Henry Bowman. 
Geo. F. Arms. 
Henry C. Allen. 
Hiram A. Gray. 
Orrin D. Remington. 
Geo. W. Flagg. 

Tyler Harding. 
Henry J. Wilder. 

Chas. M. Smith. 

Baxter Harding. 
Eliphalet L. Hall. 
Albion F. Hubbard. 
Geo. Austin Abell. 
Henry A. Stearns. 
John W. Jackson. 
Elias F. Bradford. 
E. A. Burnham. 
Sam' i Ware. 

Francis A. Clary. 

John W. Goland. 

Sj-lyester M. Ware. 
Adelbert Bailey. 
Pliny F. Nims, 
Chas. F. Wright. 
G. H. Johnson. 
C. Geo. Wells. 
S. H. Dyer. 
Wm. C. Maynard. 
Liberty Burnett. 
Edward Metivier. 
James Johnson. 
John Island. 
Patrick Hayes. 
Fred. D. Howland. 
S. R. Walker. 
James F. Hunter. 
John White. 
Geo. W. Dinsmore. 

John Lannigar. 

Fred. Wrigley. 
Ciias. Richardson. 
Silas N. Peterson. 
Ira N. Hitchcock. 
Peter Hackett. 

" " enlisted in 

Patrick Gallivan. 
Geo. H. Smith. 
J. W. Smiih. 
Wm. H. Averill. 
Lyman A. Bradford. 
Sam'l Bigelow. 
Lucius W. Merrifield 



Reg. 
Mass. 10th. 



Mass. 20th. 
Mass. 1st Cav. 



Mass. 31st. 



Remarks. 
Re-enlisted '64, 37th Reg. 
Wd. in bat. helore Rich- 

m ond, 1862. Dis. Jan. 

15, 1863. 
Dis. onacc'tof sickn's, 63. 

Re-enlisted Nov. 1863, 

in Mass. o4th Ree\ 



Promoted to 2d Lt. 
enlisted 1864. 



Re- 



5th N. T. Cav. 



2d N. T. Infy. 
Conn. Reg. 
Mass. 38th. 
" 34th. 

" 2d Cav. 
" 34tii. 
" 27th. 

' 37th. 



Re-enlisted. Diedofw'ds 
rec'd in bat. July 31 '64. 

Pris. at Andersonville, Ga. 
Escaped Oct. 9, 1864. 



Died in serv. June 19, '63. 



Died at Andersonville, 

Ga., Sept. 1864. 
Killed at Port Hudson, 

La., June 14, 1863. 
Re- enlisted 1864. Died 

April 24, 1865. 

Re-enlisted 1864. 

1864. 
Dis. July 17 '63, disability. 
Re-eulisied 1864. 

1804. 



Re-enlisted 1864. 

1864. 

" 1864. 

" 1864. 



Died pris. at Belle Island, 

March, 1864. 
Killed at Hanover, Pa., 

June 30, 1863. 
Killed at Battle Antietam. 
Dis. 1863. Re-enlisted. 
Died Nov. 10, 1862. 

Dis. Dec. '63. Disability. 
Jan. 1864. 

Dis. April 7 '63, disability. 

Died Jan. 9, 1865. 

Dis. April, '63, Disability, 



68 



Date Enlistment. 
1862. 



Jan. 1864. 
April 6, " 

June 3, 186.3. 
Sept. 1862. 



Jr. 



Name. 
Fred. E. Kowe. 

OlisF. Childs. 
E. A. Blood. 

Geo. C. Jolmson. 
Sumner Warner. 
John Connelly. 
James H. Clapp. 
Horace Dill. 
Fred M. Patrick. 
Horace Hosford. 
O. P. Edgerton. 
Wm. Townsend 
E. W. Richardson. 
H. G. Scott. 

Alonzo O. Sikes. 

John W. Bradford. 
E. W. Hamilton. 
Manley Guilford. 



Wm. D. Sanderson. 
M. S. Jenkins. 
Henry C. Munson. 
Patrick Manning. 
Chas. E. Crittenden. 
Chas. A. Holcomb. 
William Watson. 
Geo. F. Crittenden. 
Wilson G. Field. 
George Sheppard. 
A. Jndsou Andrews. 
Franklin B. Lee. 
C. G. Townsend. 
Nathaniel Bartlett. 

Geo. D. Braman. 
Jas. S. Stebbins. 

Henry Nye. 
Wm. D. AUis. 



Wm. H. Clapp. 
Marcus Howland. 

Oscar Richardson. 
Henry F. Macomber, 
Medad Hill. 
Charles Macomber. 



Reg. I Remarks. 

Mass. 87th. 'D is. June 30,1863, disa- 
bility. 
Dis. 1863. Disability. 
Taken pris. May 6, 1864. 
Supposed to be dead. 



Killed May 5, 1864. 
Promoted to 2d Lieut. 



" 57th. 
" 32d. 
7th CO. H. Art. \ 

Mass. 52d. JCapt. Res'nd Oct. 29, '63. 
Promoted Capt. 1862. 
2d Lieut. 



Died at Baton Rouge, La. 

July 10, 1863. 
Died at Baton Rouge, La., 

Feb. 11, lb63. 



Died at Baton Rouge, La., 
April 22, 1863. 



Died at Baton Rouge, 
June, 1863. 

Died at Baton Rouge, La. 
Aug. 3, 1863, 

Came home sick and died 
Aug. 18, 1863. Never 
mustered out of service. 

Died at Baton Rouge, 
La., Jan. 31, 1863. 



Of men not residents, hired to send on the quota of the Town of Conway, there 
were 31. 

In addition to the above, five men were furnished by the state, from the colored 
men, enlisted in Rebel states, on the quota of this town, and their bounties paid 
by the town. 

The quota of the toAvu was filled as called for. On the 1st Dec. 1864, the town 
Lad a surplus of five men, above aU calls, and at the close of the war a surplus 
of eleven. 



Of comiaissioned ofacers Conway famiBhed fiye. 



69 

The citizens ol^the to^vn, — though political divisions still 
subsisted, — were united, with only here and thei'e an excep- 
tion, whichi forbear to name, in the maintenance of thesfov- 
ernment and the defence of the national life. The patriotic 
determination approached nearer to unanimity than even in the 
first great w^ar of independence. The women of Conway are 
meant to be included in these general statements. They were 
not behind those of any part of the country in abundant 
labors for the soldiers in the field, or in efforts of any sort to 
sustain the high and steady tone of public feeling and to keep 
the great purpose fixed. 

To complete this review of our political history lists are 
here given of Representatives to the General Court, and also 
of the Town Clerks and Treasurers. These lists, though they 
have been re-examined in nearly every part, were made out as 
far as 1844 by Capt. Childs. 

REPRESENTATIVES. 



1776 


Cyrus Rice. 


1811. 


John Williams. 


1777. 


"u a 


1811. 


David Childs. 


1779. 


Jonathan Whitney. 


1812. 


Williams & Childs. 


1780. 


u u 


1813. 


Elisha Billings. 


1780. 


Oliver Wetmore. 


1813. 


David Childs. 


1781. 


Lucius Allis. 


1814. 


Billings & Childs. 


1782. 


Prince Tobey. 


1815. 


(i a 


1783. 


H 11 


1816. 


David Childs. 


1785. 


ii ii 


1816. 


Samuel Warren. 


1786. 


Robert Hamilton. 


1818. 


Joel Parsons. 


1787. 


u u 


1821. 


" " 


1788. 


Consider Arms. 


1824. 


John Arms. 


1791. 


William Billings, 


1826. 


Ira Amsden. 


1792. 


" " 


1827. 


John Arms. 


1793. 


11 (1 


1828. 


Joseph Avery. 


1794. 


a 11 


1829. 


u u 


1795. 


Oliver Root. 


1829. 


Samuel Warren. 


1796. 


a a 


1830. 


Charles E. Billings 


1797. 


(1 u 


1831. 


" a 


1798. 


William Billings. 


1832. 


C. E. Billings. 


1799. 


Malachi Maynard. 


1832. 


Darius Stearns. 


1800. 


u a 


1833. 


Billings & Stearns. 


1801. 


(1 a 


1834. 


'< u 


1803. 


Reuben Bardwell. 


1835. 


C. E. Billings. 


1804. 


U If 


1835. 


John Arms. 


1805. 


u a 


1836. 


C. E. Billings. 


1806. 


Capt. Bannister. 


1837. 


Phineas Bartlett. 


1807. 


" " 


1838. 


Christopher Arms. 


1808. 


li li 


1839. 


E. D. Hamilton. 


1809. 


John Williams. 


1840. 


" <i u 


1809. 


Isaac Baker. 


1842. 


Otis Childs. 


1810. 


John Williams, 


1843. 


<( a 



70 



1844. 


Nathaniel P. Baker. 


1855. 


Edwin Cooley. 


1846. 


John Clary. 


1856. 


E. A. Coffin. 


1847. 


U (1 


« 




1850. 


James S. Whitney. 


1857. 


Wm. C. Campbell 


1851. 


Otis Childs. 


1861. 


Emory Sherman. 


1852. 


E. Fisher Ames. 


1862. 


Franklin Tease. 


1853. 


James S. Whitney. 


1866. 


Austin Rice. 


1854. 


E. Fisher Ames. 







From its Incorporation to the end of town representation in 
1856 the town failed to send a representative in 24 years, in- 
cluding 8 years before 1776. For many years the town, and 
not the state, paid its representative ; a circumstance which 
doubtless had weight in deciding the question whether to send. 



1767 to 1775. 
1776 to 1783. 
1784 to 1800. 
1807 to 1826. 
1827 to 1836. 



TOWN CLERKS. 



Consider Arms. 
Oliver Wetmore. 
Oliver Root. 
David Childs. 
Elisha Billings. 



1837 to 1841. Otis Childs. 



1842. 

1843 to 1851. 

1852 to 1854. 

1855. 

1856 to 1861. 



Otis Leach. 
James S. Whitney. 
E. F. Ames. 
Eurotas Wells. 
Franklin Childs. 



1862 to 1867. H. W. Billings. 



TOWN TREASURERS. 



1767 to 1775. 
1776. 

1777 to 1783. 
1784 to 1796. 
1797 to 1799. 
1800 to 1811. 
1812 to 1815. 
1816. 



Consider Arms. 
Elisha A m.sden. 
Benjamin Pulsifer. 
Malachi Maynard. 
John Williams. 
Malachi Maynard. 
Elisha Billings. 
Malachi Mavnard. 



1841 to 1845. 
1846 to 1849. 
1850 to 1851, 
1852. 
1853. 

1854 to 1855. 
1856 to 1863. 
1864 to 1867. 



1817 to 1840. Phineas Bartlit. 



Anson Shepherd. 
Wm. C. Campbell. 
Gurdon Edgerton. 
T. S. Dickinson. 
Gurdon Edgerton. 
T. S. Dickinson. 
+Gurdon Edgerton. 
H. W. Billings. 



The Physicians living and practising in Conway have been 

as follows : Doctors Moses Hayden, Samuel Ware, 

Kittredge, R. Wells, Halloway, Wm. Hamilton, George 

Rogers, Washington Hamilton ; and E. D. Hamilton, who is 
now in practice. And of the homoeopathic order : Dr. H, A. 
Collins, Dr. Wilson ; and Dr. D. T. Vining, who is still practis- 
ing. There have gone abroad from us, Dr. Joseph Emerson, 



* At this point the "District System" was introduced, to the great injury, it is to 
be feared, of the smaller towns. The names that follow are of District representa- 
tives, residents in Conway. 



t Public money failed here to be accounted for. 



71 

6on of John Emerson, and Doctors Eben "Wells, Elislia Clark, 
Wm. Billings, Lyman Bartlett and Oliver D. Root.* 

Of resident lawyers the town has had Wm. Billings, father 
and son ; Albert Olark, now of Independence, Iowa ; and for 
a short time, Edward P. Burnham, now of Saco, Me. It has 
sent abroad a larger number. Among them are Wm. May- 
nard, son of Malachi, and inheritor of his father's strength, 
going to central ISTew York, and not now living ; Moses Hay- 
den, Judge in New York, and not living ; Samuel Eliot Per- 
kins, Judge in Indiana; Henry Billings, Judge in Illinois, and 
first Mayor of Alton ; Israel Billings, late of Hatfield ; Caleb 
Rice, first Mayor of Springfield; Lincoln Clark of Chicago ; 
Harvey Rice of Cleveland, Poet of to-day ; Charles Baker, not 
living ; Wm. Howland of Lynn, and Wm. Whitney. 

The following is a list of ministers originating in Conway. 
Those marked with a star are not, or are supposed to be not, 
now living. (Names of resident ministers already referred to 
in appendix.) 

Of Congregationalists, Joel Baker* ; Abel B. Clary* ; Stal- 
ham Clary* ; Dexter Clary of Beloit, Wis. ; David Dickin- 
son* ; Harrison G. O. Dwight,* long a missionary in Turkey ; 
Samuel M. Emerson,* son of John Emerson, and minister in 
Heath ; Samuel Fisher, D. D.*, brought to Conway when a 
child ; Wm. Fisher,* given to Dea. John Avery ; Joseph K. 
Ware* and Samuel Ware*, brought to Conway when young ; 
Daniel Rice, D. D., removed early to Charlemont, and gone to 
Indiana ; Richard S. Billings, minister in Shelburne ; Edward 
W. Root ; Adams Nash ; Augustine Root, Wm. F. Avery. 
Of Episcopalians, John Avery brother of Dea. Joseph Avery, 
and Merchant Huxford. Of Methodists, (Chester) Field and 
Increase B. Bigelow. Of Baptists, Foster Hartwell, and prob- 
ably others. Of Unitarians, Luther Hamilton. And of Hni- 
versalists, W. Wilcox and Otis W. Bacon. 

*I am fiiv from regarding this enumeration of men who have entered the learned 
professions from Conway as complete. There may even be omissions of conspicu- 
ous names. It is a matter depending in much on accidental recollection, or 
forgetfulness. There may also possibly b3 errors other than those of omission. As 
to death9,^especially I am without full information. 



72 

Passing out of these professions, the remarkable men of 
Conway are so numerous as to be beyond reckoning.* 

I am, however, able to give a list of conflagrations, which 
I hope Avill be found to include nearly or quite all that have 
occurred. We are indebted again to Capt. Childs for a part. 
Dwelling houses have been burned belonging to the following 
persons : Nathaniel Marble, Heman Hitchcock, Luther Boy- 
den, Consider Bond, Samuel Ware, Zelotus Bates, Josiah Ilal- 
loway, Sally Murphy, S, P. Sherman ; and the boarding house 
of Tucker & Cook, Other buildings burned have been Tucker 
& Jones' store, two grist mills, both on the site of the present 
mill, Christopher Arms' shop, Levi Gunn's blacksmith shop, 
David JSTewhall's shop, Jerry Severance's blacksmith shop, 
Aaron Colton's blacksmith shop, three school houses, the 
academy building, Edwin Burke's first woolen mill, the Con 
way tool shop, L. B. Wright's cotton mill, and the old fulling 
oil, \tool and cotton mill near the post office. 

There are sixteen farms that are still occupied by the de- 
scendants of the first owners and occupants. I give the names 
in the family down to the present owner. The farm of 
Jonas Pice, Joel, Calvin, Joel; of Josiah Boyden, Josiah, 
Josiah, (owned and tilled, but not lived on) ; of John Wing ; 
(owned but not lived on by him), Isaiah, Lucius B. ; of Con- 
sider Arms, in Hoosac (not lived on by him), Henry, Consider ; 
of Israel Pice, Joseph, Austin ; of Theophilus Page, Levi, 
Elijah ; of Timothy Thwing, where the venerable Amariah, 
his son, still lives; of Samuel Newhall, James, Austin, 
Joseph ; of Jabez Newhall, Bethia, wife of Daniel Rice, Po- 
dolphus ; of Solomon Field, Joel, Consider ; of Isaac Amsden, 
Ira, Minerva, wife of Walter Guildford ; of Consider Arms, 
John, Elijah ; of Pichard Collins, (but not kept uninterruptedly 

* I am not able to give a list of college graduates, nor to speak of the Conway 
men, six or seven in numbar, who have been Instructors in Colleges. As to the 
enumeration of natives of our town who have proved eminently successful in various 
departments of business, it, would have been too difficult to tell where the long 
column should end. Of civil engineers, Joseph Avery, son of Dea. Joseph, and 
not now living, is entitled to mention as having gained distinction. Chester 
Harding, the Painter, was born in Conway ; but no more, and the town has no 
further claim upon him. 



73 

in the family,) Erastus, Hiram ; of Malaclii Maynard, occupied 
by Zelotns Bates, husband of his late daughter, Lydia, and by 
his daughter Lucy; of Abel Dinsraore, John, Alvan ; and of 
Lucius Allis, Solomon, John. Three or four more might be 
added by counting those who, thougli perhaps the first clear- 
ers and tillers of their farms, were not early either in occupy- 
ing or owning them. 

Few even of the families of the children are where their 
fathers were. From these and from all the ancient places 
the fathers and the mothers themselves have long since passed. 
Of the second generation there remain witii us a few, a num- 
ber too quickly counted, and too soon to fail from counting. 
In the third rank are our elder men and women, looking 
toward the declivity of life. "We of middle age are in the 
fourth. They of the fifth and sixth generations are coming 
swiftly on and will soon occupy alone, in their brief possession, 
these seats of the fathers. The moral lessons that belong to 
the occasion, and the higher reflections it may suggest, are 
appropriately left to be brought before us to-day by another of 
the sons of Conway. Here its history ends. Our town has 
given to those who liave lived here before us her fresh air, her 
clear springs and streams of water and her hearty soil. She 
has set their homes on her pleasant hills, and has kept them in 
plenty and in peace. She has furnished for them the opportuni- 
ties of knowledge ; she has called them to the duties and com- 
forts and hopes of the christian religion ; and she has taken 
them, when their course of nature failed, to their last earthly 
rest within her bosom. Upon those who will come after us 
she will bestow the same, and, we may hope, enlarging boun- 
ties of the present life ; and she will set before them with in- 
creasing care, we may confidently think, the light of that same 
precious faith which may bring both them and us to the land 
that does not change the generations of its people, and from 
whose established homes the blessed inhabitants "go no more 
out forever." 



10 



APPENDIX. 



Extracts from the Diary op Ret. John Emerson.* 



1799. 
January. 

1. Endeavored to begin this year in a religious and 
pious manner, by a renewed dedication of myself to 
God, imploring the forgiveness of my multiplied and 
aggravated offences, thro' the infinite merits of the 
Eedecmer, and begging for grace to live more cir- 
cumspectly for the future. By profession 1 am a 
Christian and a Christian minister, but Oh ! how un- 
worthy this honor, and how inconsistent has my 
spirit and deportment been with that high and sacred 
character. 

This day went with one of my sons to Deei'field to 
attend the opening of the Academy erected there. 
Mr. Lymaij of Hatfield, preaclied an ingenious sermon, 
from these woi'ds in Prov. 12, 8 : — " A man shall be 
commended according to his wisdom." Weather 
cold and stormy, yet there was a large collection of 
people from the adjacent towns. Dined at Esq. 
Saxton's, and returned home in the evening. 

2. These days attended to reading and the common 

3. concerns of the family. Had many anxious and 
desponding thoughts respecting my outward circum- 
stances. I desire to put my trust in God. 

4. Spent part of the day and evening in study for the 
Sabbath. Visited P. M., at Benj. WelU. 

■ • 5. Spent in preparing for Sabbath; Weather clear 

and extreme cold. • • 



* These fragments, which will ba found in part curious, and possessed of more 
than personal interest, were kindly furnished by John M. Emerson, Esq., of New 
York City, grandson of John Emerson. — C. B. R. 



75 



Preached from 1 Pet, 3: Y, — as being Heirs to- 
gether of the grace of life, etc. Had little freedom 
and enlargement in speaking. How much have I to 
bewail a lifeless spirit and the want of love and zeal 
in my Master's glorious cause. Weather remains 
exceeding cold. 
20. Preached at Sunderland, by an exchange with Mr. 

Holman. A. M., fr. Ps. 110: 3,—" Thy people 
shall be willing in the day of thy power." Admin- 
istered the Sacrament. P. M., preached from Rev. 
1: 16, — "Out of his mouth went a two edged 
sword." Carried comfortably thro' the exei'cises. 
Was somewhat enlivened and enlarged, Thei'e 
appears to be a remarkable attention among this 
people. 

Attended a marriage at Julius Allis'. 

Went to S, Hadley to attend association. Dined 
at Whately, and met ministers in the evening at Mr. 
Hayes'. 
6. A, M., attended to questions, etc. P, M., public 

lecture. It fell to me to preach, and from Prov. 2 : 
3, 4, 5. Returned to Conway in the evening. 

19. Went to Shelburne to attend the ordination of Mr. 
Packard, The Council sat till three o'clock at night, 

20. Proceeded to the ordination, which was attended 
with decency and order. I was myself called to 
preach the sermon, and was greatly uplifted in the 
service. 

April. 

1. Attended April meeting for choice of Governor, 

etc 
16, Went to Greenfield on business. Lodged at Mr. 

Newton's, About midnight was alarmed by the cry 
of fire. Rose from bed and saw Mr. Chapman's 
house and store consumed by the raging element. 
Thro' the exertions of the people the furniture and 
some part of the buildings of Mr. Chapman were 
saved, and by the good j^rovidence of God no lives 
were lost. 
May. 

23. Set out on a journey to Boston. The occasion of 

this journey was a circular letter from the Boston 
Association to the several Associations in the Slate, 
inviting them to delegate one or more of their num- 
ber to meet in Boston on the day preceding the gen- 
eral election, to consult on the present critical 



76 



1799 
May, 



and alarming state of our country, and to devise 
means for the suppression of infidelity. Rode this 
day as far as Greenwich, dined at Mr. Parsons, of 
Amherst, and lodged at Capt. Rich's in Greenwich, 

24. Proceeded on my journey, dined at Mr. Avery's in 
Holden, and reached Harvard. Lodged at Dea, 
"Whitney's. 

25. Rose early, breakfasted at my kinsman's, Mr. 
Emerson's, and went on as far as Concord by noon. 
Was persuaded contrary to my intention to stay 
with Brother Ripley over the Sabbath. 

26. Lord's Day. Preached for Mr, Ripley. Had 
some freedom and satisfaction in the public services 
of the day. Preached to the acceptance of many, 
and I hope some profit. 

27. Set out early from Concord, and took breakfast at 
Dr. Osgood's in Medford, and arrived at Maiden in 
safety after a pleasant and prosperous journey. 
Found my sisters well and living together in harmony 
which afforded me much satisfaction. 

28. Went to Boston, Called on Dr. Morse at Charles- 
town, who received me with great cordiality and 
christian friendship. Met with the ministers at 
the Court House in Boston, on the business specified 
in the letter from the Boston Association. There 
were present nearly twenty ministers from various 
Associations. * * Agreed on two address- 
es, one to the people of the respective congregations, 
and one to the General Court, and appointed 
committee to draft said addresses, Drs. Tappan, and 
Emmons. 

29. General Election, Attended adj. meeting of del- 
egated ministers. Committee reported draft of 
addresses. Attended divine service at the Old Brick 
Church, P. M., attended the Convention, The 
addresses were largely debated, strongly opposed by 
some and warmly advocated by others. Returned 
to Maiden, 

30. Went again to Boston. After further debate Dr. 
Thatcher moved to address the clergy, and that the 
address before us should be so altered as to apply to 
them. This motion was unanimously adopted. The 
other address designed for the Legislature was re- 
jected. Adjourned to Dr. Thatcher's meeting house 
where Mr. Forbes preached a sermon from 2 Cor. 6 : 
3, 4. A collection was made for indigent widows 
and orphans of ministers. Collected 156 dollars. 



Ti' 



1799. 
June. 
3 



6. 



18. 

September. 
15. 



November. 

7. 

December. 
3. 



4. 
29. 



1800. 
January. 
1. 



2. 



Set out early on my return. Dined at Concord. 
Drank coffee at Harvard, and proceeded to Boyl- 
ston. Lodged with Mr. Nash the minister. 

Proceeded on my journey in the morning' 13 miles, 
and breakfasted at Rutland public house. Rode to 
Greenwich. Called on Widow Collins and Mrs. 
Stetson in Hardwick. Put up at Dea. Rich's in 
Greenwich. 

Rose early and proceeded on my journey 12 miles. 
Breakfasted at Mr. Draper's. Called on Esq. 
Strong at Amherst, and arrived at my own house in 
Conway at one o'clock, after a pleasant and prosper- 
ous journey. Found all well. The Lord has carried 
me forth and returned me safely, for which I desire 
to praise his blessed name. 

Went to Northampton and put my son Charles as 
an apprentice with Mr. Dickinson. 

Lord's day. Preached A. M., from John 15 : 5, — 
" I am the vine, ye are the branches." P. M., from 
Heb. 11 : 7,—" By faith Noah," &c. Both old 
sermons, not having finished my new oriies. 

An ordination of a Baptist minister ^vas attended 
to-day in town. Did not myself attend . 

Went to Charlemontto the installation of my-son- 
in-law, Joseph Field. In the evening the Council 
convened, etc. 

Attended the Installation. Preached from Heb. 
13 : 17, — '' Obey them that have the rule over you." 

Lord's Day. Preached from 2 Sam. 1 : 27, — 
" How are the mighty fallen," on the occasion of the 
death of Gen. Washington. 



This day we had much company. Ici the evening 
married a couple ; rec'd $1.25 fee. Mr. S. Lee 
brought a present of a cheese, about the value of a 
dollar. 

Attended company. Bought cheese of Dea. 
Ware, value of $1,17. Dea. Ware brought a present 
of a piece of beef, value about 20 c. 

Attended to study. Bot. Rum, 50 c. 

Spent in preparatory study. 

Avocations. Went to several places on business. 
In settling accts with Dea. Ware found a balance in 
his favor of $4,10, which he generously jgave me. 



78 



1800. 
January. 

8. 



9. 

23. 

March. 
25. 



May. 



5. 



ard cancelled the acct. Lent $6,00 to Mr. Uussell 
for one week. 

This day was consecrated by this town to the mem- 
ory of Gen. AVashing'ton. Great funeral honors were 
piid by a solemn procession, &c. The people assera- 
bfed in the meeting house, where prayer was made, 
aid sing-ing, and an oration was delivered by Mr. 
Simucl Fisher. 

In the evening' went to Mr. Hayden's to attend the 
mirriage of his daug-hter Sally, to L. Root, fee $1,25. 

Returned from Charlemont. Married three coup- 
les, fees, $6,25. 

Visited Capt. French's family with Dea. Root, 
wth a view to attempt a reconciliation in that fami- 
ly where there has been great contention and 
diiorder. 

ittended the lecture preparatory to the Sacrament. 
Afer divine service attended a Church meeting 
where Lemuel Billings presented a paper containing 
hisreasons why he cannot hold communion with the 
Chirch. Labored a great while to convince him of 
his being in an error, and to dissuade him from pur- 
suirg his purpose of being dipt and joining the 
Baptists, but to no purpose. 



1799. 

Jan. 3.- 

5.- 

G.- 

12.- 

17.- 

19.- 

Feb. 4.- 

7.- 

Aprill.- 

12. 

2G.- 

27.- 

May 2.- 

20.- 
July 2.- 
Aug. 1.- 



An i-ccount of Expenses, &c., this year:* 



-Oil Cake )f Hayden, 50c. ; 3 sheets large paper, 6, . 
-For spiunhg by Folly Nash, 12 runs, 
-2 lbs. of hitter, 14c. ; hatchelling flax, by Scipio, 12, 
-Pair Shoei for myself, Mr. Stow, .... 
-Killing hcg, by Asahel, . . . . , 

-Pint Rumat Bardwell's store, .... 
-Postage f(r letter, ..... 

-3 yards brDadcloth, |!3,33, , . . . 

-Bot. a cor of Capt. Tobey, .... 
-Pruning spple trees by Cajrt. Hall, endorsed on his note, . 
-A day's vork by a woman taylor, 

-Equippiig John for training, .... 

-Bot. a pbugh, fi,17, pd 3, and gave note for 3,17, to be paid 
1st of ne'xt Nov. ..... 



the 



-Expensss to Boston and from there, 
2 qts. lium, 



Williams, 
-2 qts. Eum, Bardwell, 



56 


1 00 


26 


1 50 


17 


20 


17 


10 00 


15 66 


67 


25 


2 25 


6 17 


2 16 


1 50 


75 



* If the items given show fairly the whole balance, Mr. Emerson was doubtless 
enabled to dismiss the "desponding thoughts " with which he had began the year. 



79 



Income by salary, grant, presents, perquisites, &c. 



Contra. 

Jan. Salary, $266 67 ; Grant, 100 00, 
5. — Piece of beef from Benj. Wells. 
7. — Spare rib, Isaac Baker, 
8. — Work by team for Loomis, 
10. — Marriage, Benj. Lee to E. Wlieat, 

Present from Dea. Root, spai'e rib, 
12. — Recommendation of A. Anisden, to teach school, 

Pork, present from Mr. Stow, 
17.— Sold 284 lbs. pork, .... 

Apr. 1. — A lamb, . . 

8. — Loin of veal from Dr. Ware, present, . 
n. — Flour, Esq. Billings, present, 
25.— Marriage, M. Nims to M. Bartlett, 
Sold a pair of Steers, 
May 14. — Present of a saddle from Capt. John Bannister, 
Oct. 38 barrels cider, .... 

60 bushels Indian Corn, 
Sheep, 3 Marriages, 



$366 67 

34 

25 

60 

1 00 

25 

25 

50 

16 64 

50 

34 

1 00 

1 10 

25 00 

8 00 

32 00 

30 00 

6 00 



List of Ministers who originated from Conway. 

Congregational. — Joel Baker, Elisha Billings, Richard S. Billings, Abel B. 
Clary, Dexter Clary, Stalham Clary, David Dickinson, Harrison G. 0. Dwight, 
(Missionary,) Samuel M. Emerson, Samuel Fisher, William Fisher, John A. 
Nash, Edward W. Root, Joseph K. Ware, Samuel Ware, William Ware, Sylvester 
Hovev, William F. Avery, Augustine Root, Charles B. Rice, Charles H. 
Wheeler.— 21. 

Baptist. — Josiali Goddard, Calvin Keyes, Foster Hartwell, Edmund H. Smith, 
Horace Jenkins, (Missionary.) — 5. 

Episcopal. — John Avery. — 1. 

Methodist. — Increase R. Bigelow. — 1. 

Unitarian. — Lnther Hamilton. — 1. 

Universalist. — Otis W. Bacon, W. Wilcox. — 2. 



Minister's Wives who originated from Conway 



Sabra Emerson, 
Bethiah Ware, 
Sally Ware, 
Elizabeth Toboy, 
Louisa Billings, 
Mary Billings, 
Abby Billings, 
Jerusha Billings, 
Louisa Dunham, 
Olivia Dunham, 
Minerva Nash, 
^ Sophronia Hall, 
Martha Arms, 
Julia Ann Ames, 
Harriet Arms, 
Achsah Stowe, 
Maria Wheelock, 
Ada C. Coffin, 
Alma Bartlett, 



Married R ev. Josej^h Field, 
" " Moses Miller, 



William Binney, 
Josiah Goddard, 
Ezckiel Russell, 
Ogden Dwight, 
Mr. Young, 

Bela B. Edwards, 
Lucien Farnham, 
Romulus Barnes, 
Henry Eastman, 
Increase R. Bigelow, 
Horatio N. Graves, 
Dwight Ives, 
Charles E. Sylvester, 
James H. Coley, 
Foster Hartwell, 
Adoniram J. Chaplin, 
Ml-. Wilcox, 



Unit. 
C. 

c. 

B. 
C. 
C. 
C. 

c. 
c. 
c. 
c. 

M. 
C. 
B. 
C. 
B. 
B. 
B. 
Univ. 



80 

Mary Stearns, Married Rev. Mr. Frary, B. 

Julia Cooley, " " Thomas S. Norton, C. 

Abby Clark, " " Jared Stone, C. 

Mary Clark, " " J. Adams Nash, C. 

Mary Clark, " " Mr. Rossitcr, C. 

Mary H. Emerson, " " Royal Reed, C. 

Mary Avery, " " Robert M. Loughridge. C. 

Paulina Avery, •' " Oscar L. Woodford, C. 

Hannah Clark, " " Gideon Dana, C. 

Armenia Pulsifer, " " Samuel Skinner, Univ. 

Elizabeth Ware, " " Theophiius Packard, C. 

Elizabeth Clarke, " " Thompson, C. 

Martha Baker, " « William Carruthers, C. 

Lucy Harris, " " Edwin P. Parker, C. 

Sabra Adams, « " H. H. Benson, P. 

Elizabeth Billings, " " Hiram Meade, C. 

Emily Meekins, " " William Arms, C. 

C. indicates Congregational ; B. Baptist ; M. Methodist ; P. Presbyterian ; 
Unit. Unitarian; Univ. Universalist. 



NOTE. 

On page 17 for " in later years," read the later year; and in the sixteenth line, 
for " occupied " read unoccupied. Page 18 for " authors " read author. At page 
23 understand that Elijah Wells lived upon the H. B. Childs place. Page 33, after 
"coming century," insert to. Page 39, for "times" read time. Page 71, for 
" Adams Nash," read John Adams Nash. And add to list of Congregationalists, 
Chas. II. \\ heekr, and of Baptists, Josiah Goddard, Calvin Keyes, Edmund H. 
Smith, and Horace Jenkins, (Missionary.) 

There has been some misapprehension touching the ministerial statistics, re- 
ferred to on page 30. The omissions from the body of the history are perhaps to 
be regretted, though the facts will doubtless appear in the. report of proceedings at 
the table. For convenience of reference I here append a list of Congregational 
pastors : 

John Emerson, settled Dec. 21, 1769; Deceased June 26, 1826. 
Edward Hitchcock, D. D., LL. D., settled (colleague,) June 21, 1821 ; Dismissed 
Oct. 25, 1825. 

Daniel Crosby, settled Jan. 31, 1827; Dismissed July 21, 1833. 
Melancthon S. Wheeler, settled June 19, 1834; Dismissed Aug. 18, 1841. 
Samuel Harris, D. D., settled Dec. 22, 1841; Dismissed Feb. 11, 1851. 
George M. Adams, settled Sept. 18, 1851 ; Dismissed May, 1803. 
Elijah Cutler settled Sept. 9, 1863. 

The corresponding list for the Baptist Church, once prepared, is not now at hand. 

C. B, E. 



After the Address was concluded, the following Ode, written 
by George Howland, Esq., of Chicago, Illinois, a native of 
Conway, was read by Eev. Geo. M, Adams, of Portsmouth, N. H. 

O come, all ye sons of old Conway, 

Nor stay, ye fair daughters, away, 
And let us with true hearts united 

Observe this centennial day. 

"We'll speak of the deeds of our fathers, 
Who wrought for us more than they knew. 

And never forget those brave mothers 

Who wrought with them faithful and true. 

They plowed on the plain and the hiU-eide ; 

Their axe rung in forest and glen ; 
They planted the church and the school-house, 

And reaped a rich harvest of men. 

Regarding a man as a brother. 

They bowed not to mortal the knee ; 
The banner they dyed in their life-blood 

Now waves o'er America free. 

Then let us be true to the manhood 

They suffered and toUed to defend, 
And pledge ourselves here, o'er their ashes, 

That we will be true to the end. 



Hon. Harvey Eice, of Cleveland, Ohio, a grandson of Cyrus 
Kice, the JSrst settler of Conway, then delivered the following 
Poem: 

11 



POEM. 



BY HARVEY RICE. 



When Nature, with a skillfal hand, 

Moulded to shape these billowy hills, 
She clad in forests dark the land, 

And penciled it with silver rills ; 
And with a scarf of lovely blue. 

She bound the mountain's Regal brow. 
And touched it with a magic hue, 
Whose spell is flung around us now I 



And still, within this narrow vale, 

Where beauty sleeps in cradled rest. 
She bids the River pour his wail, 

In unison with memories blest. 
Here every whisper seems to breathe 

Of other days where'er we tread : 
While yonder graves, moss-grown, bequeath 

A silent message from the dead ! 



Here saintly forms before ua pass, 

Arrayed in bright celestial beams, 
Like visions seen in memory's glass, 

Whose smiles enchant our earthly dreams. 
What though a Century has flown 

Since first our fathers hither came, 
We see their faces— in our own — 

Aq4 j^n^le still their altar's fl&m9 1 



84 



And still 'mid shadows dimly trace, 

In every vale, hill-top, and glen, 
The hearths they trod with manly grace, 

And still revere those godly men. 
The men, who braved a savage foe, 

And prostrate laid the forest's pride ; 
Who thought it quite enough to know 

God's will and fake it for their guide. 



The men who reared the sacred fane. 

And cherished schools throughout the land ; 
"Who sowed broadcast the precious grain. 

Which fell not in the barren sand ; 
But lives in hearts, whose quickening zeal 

Responded to a Nation's call ; 
Brave hearts, that still but kindly feel 

For others' woes whate'er befall. 

6 

Yes, loyal hearts, that will defend 

The stars and stripes, where'er they wave ; 
And pray that blessings rich descend 

On those whom God to freedom gave ! 
If, from their graves, our sires could rise, 

And see what changes time has wrought, 
Think you, they would believe their eyes. 

In this fast age of daring thought ? 



An age whose genius, wide in sweep, 

Commands the lightning's fiery tongue 
To speak its errands o'er the Deep, 

From world to world together flung. 
And fearless guides the hissing car, 

And speeds the ship on every sea ; 
Yet makes high aims its polar star, 

And shapes anew Man's destiny! 

8 

And yet how blest were days of yore, 

Ere mad ambition sought to reign ; 
When men laid up in heaven their store. 

Nor worldly honors cared to gain ; 
When here, devout, both age and youth, 

As rang the solemn Sabbath bell, 
Convened to hear the gospel's truth, 

And drink the waters of ItB well. 



85 

9 

When none were slaves to fashion's art, 

Nor with new doctrines were perplexed , 
When sermons long could mend the heart, 

And every child repeat the text ! — 
O happy days ! when we were young, 

When o'er these hills we trod the way, 
Blithe as the morning lark that sung, 

In daisied meads, his roundelay. 

10 

Even yet, like fairy land, appear 

The shelving rock and haunted glade, 
And chestnut groves to childhood dear. 

Where oft our footsteps we delayed. 
And gathered gifts which Nature gave, 

As, at our feet, they caught the eye 
While autumn winds that fitful rave 

Swept through the trees with sullen sigh. 

11 

Yet 'mid the windings of the hills 

And 'mid the shadows of the vales. 
How sweet the music of the rills. 

Which still the pilgrim's ear assails ! 
Though strangers in our Native Land, 

A welcome greets us without guile ; 
The hills extend a friendly hand. 

And valleys woo us with a smile. 

12 

Like old familiar friends they seem, 

The mystic pine, the mountain peak, 
The dreamy vale, and plaintive stream, 

That still to us in whispers speak. 
Thus, pilgrim-like, we come, and glean 

The golden memories treasured here ; 
Yet feel that time can never wean 

Our hearts from scenes so fair and dear ! 

13 

Beneath thes6 same o'erarching skies, 

Once more we look with pure delight, 
On sunny spots that charmed our eyes, 

And sportive fields that trod our might. 
With joy we hail the homestead old, 

And still recall, as time departs, 
A mother's love that ne'er was told, 

Yet, cherished, lives in filial hearts. 



86 

14 

That mother's love — that soul athirst — 

That saintly tear — that lifted eye — 
That lisping prayer — that childlike trust — 

That budding hope — say, can they die ? 
No ! — never — never — ^but shall live, 

And breathe an incense still divine ; 
No holier gift hath God to give, 

Nor holier memories, yours or mine ! 

15 

In vain we ask for friends once dear, 

Once bound to us by genial ties ; 
Whose sacred dust but claims a tear, 

Where each in lowly slumber lies ! 
Yet, 'mid the gloom of by -gone years. 

Still lingers here and there a star, 
To cheer our steps and stay our tears, 

Like beacons gleaming from afar ! 

16 

Ha ! there it stands adown the glen — 

That school-house old — with knowing looks ; 
Where blows did more to make us men, 

Than all the lessons taught from books ! 
Along these vales, 'mid sun and showers, 

Still laughs the brook, whose brood was coy, 
Where oft we trolled the line for hours, 

When even a nibble gave us joy ! 

17 

Yonder we roamed the mountain-side, 

And sought to win a marksman's fame, 
With gun that sent its echoes wide, 

Yet, scattering, missed the nimble game! 
In halls where music thrilled the breast. 

We tripped the "light fantastic toe," 
And, with the smiles of Beauty blest. 

Thought earth a paradise, you know ! 

18 

Perchance, with heart that knew not grief, 

Beneath the moonbeam's witching ray. 
We breathed a word sincere as brief, 

And only feared that one word — nay ! 
But where are now the favorite few, 

Who shared, amid these kindred hills. 
Our youthful sports and friendships true, 

Nor dreamed of life's iimpending 111b ? 



87 

19 

Gone ! — gone ! — to realms l)eyond the stars, 

"Where fairer scenes regale the sight, 
Where Truth her gate of pearl unbars. 

And pours her rivers of delight ! 
God bless the land that gave us birth. 

Her many sous and daughters fair ; 
The dearest land of all the earth, 

Where first we breathed the mountain air ! 

20 

When years — a hundred more have rolled, 

A race unborn will note the day, 
And speak of us as men of old, 

Who left their footprints on the way. 
Yet they, who live for God and truth, 

The test of time need never fear ; 
For they shall live in bloom of youth. 

Immortal in a brighter sphere 1 



Old Hundred was then sung by the audience, after which the 
following Oration was delivered by William Howland, Esq., of 
Lynn, Mass. 



MR. HOWLAND'S ORATIOIY. 



ORATION. 



Mk. President, Ladies, ajstd Gentlemen: 

We are met to welcome the hundreth anniversary of the 
birth of our native town into that great family of towns, 
clust erect so thickly around the hearth-stone, and embraced 
so lovingly within the arms of our good mother, the blessed 
old Commonwealth of Massachusetts ; to exchange our con- 
gratulations on the auspicious rounding out of the century 
since a handful of settlers were here first dignified with 
a separate municipal existence ; some of us returning after 
years of absence to revisit the scenes of our childhood, to 
look again upon the familiar hills and valleys, to breathe 
again the pure mountain air, and to gaze upon the rich gar- 
niture and the varied 

"pomp that fills 
The summer circuit of the hills " 

which surrounded our infancy, refreshed as they are by the 
rains of yesterday, which nowhere fell more genially, glorified 
by the sunlight of to-day, which nowhere shines more bright- 
ly than on these wooded summits and verdant hill-slopes and 
meadows we so well remember. 

On such an occasion the thoughts involuntarily run back 
to the time of that^ event, which this day is set apart to com- 
memorate. Then this was an insignificant part of a colonial 
district and dependency, still young and untried, not yet hav- 
ing reached the maturity of manhood, only just beginning to 
look forward to a separate national existence as a possibility, 
barely dreamed of, perhaps cautiously discussed or hinted at 
by a few spirits more daring than were othera, as a fact gf the 



92 

future, whose first dawn was seen in the visions of only the 
most sagacious and far-seeing. Then this country, not yet 
the United States of America, consisted of a group of colo- 
nies along a portion of the Eastern shore of tlie continent, 
with a few settlements upon the banks of tlie rivers emptying 
into the Atlantic. Some handfuls of hardy pioneers, the ad- 
vance picket line of colonial settlers, had penetrated a hund- 
red or two miles inland, but in Massachusetts this place was 
little more than a wilderness, lying along the outer-most verge 
of civilization. The rich valley of the Connecticut had been 
longer known and occupied, but few had found tlieir way 
among tlie hills, which fringe the borders of that valley, to 
the place where we stand to-day. 

During the hundred years which have followed the date of 
the existence of this little plantation as a separate town, these 
colonies along the coast, these settlements in the green valleys 
and among the rugged granite hills of New England, have 
been the hives from which have gone out swarms of settlers 
to people the great West. Hardy pioneers, children of JSTew 
England, reared in these valleys and upon these hills, re-inforc- 
ed by accessions ti-om abroad, and following " "Westward the 
course of Emjnre," have like a wave swept across the conti- 
nent, until now, on the shores of the Pacific, it is meeting the 
return wave of an eastern emigration from the flowery land of 
the Celestial Empire. Through this whole country, in its 
vast extent, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, the ISTew Eng- 
lander, the Yankee, has been a presence and a power. These 
rugged hills have been the nurseries of men, who have made 
homes for themselves in every part of all this wide domain, 
moulding its character and its institutions, and have not been 
without their influence in other lands. These colonies have 
thus, during the century, not only become an independent 
nation, but one which has for the time which has elapsed, 
grown unprecedentedly great and powerful, and in its progress 
to greatness and power, N"ew England has played no unim- 
portant part. 

Of the history and successive steps of that national growth, 
it is not ray purpose to speak, nor does it come within my 



93 

province to treat of onr local histories and traditions ; neither 
would it be fitting the occasion of these festivities, that I 
should discuss the i3olitical questions of the day, upon the 
solution of which so rnuch of the future of this country de- 
pends. Yet the great events which have taken, and still are 
taking place in our history, so far compel the attention and 
engross the thoughts of all, that it will not be deemed wholly 
inappropriate, that I should address you upon a theme, not 
entirely disconnected, in its application, from these questions, 
which are shaping the character of our institutions and gov- 
ernment, and the future of our history. 

With such thoughts pressing upon the mind and regarding 
the nature of the oce^asion which calls us together, I know 
not how I can more fittingly occupy this brief hour than in 
speaking of The Influence of New England in the de- 
velopment OF OUR N'ational Chakacter and Greatness. 

When I speak of New England I do not confine myself to 
this little corner of the United States, lying between the 
Atlantic Ocean and the Hudson Eiver, nor alone of the peo- 
ple at any time inhabiting this portion of our common coun- 
try. The seed once planted here has long since germinated 
and grown into a stately tree, whose branches have extended 
over the whole country, and far beyond the territorial limits 
of New England ; which like that famed tree of the Indies, 
the marvellous accounts of which astonished our childhood, 
has sent down shoots from its branches, which have themselves 
taken root in other soils, forming new trunks and new centres 
of growth. I mean all the sons and descendants of New 
England, the Yanhee, wherever he may be found, the cool, 
planning, calculating Yankee, the keen, shrewd, intelligent, 
enterprising, persistent, inevitable, irrepressible Yankee, ingen- 
ious in his schemes, fertile in invention and resource, unremit- 
ting and untiring in his eff'orts for the accomplishment of his 
projects, undismayed by temporary disaster or defeat, and 
with his invincible jack knife whittling out his fortune and 
his destiny. The Yankee! a word sometimes uttered with a 
sneer, but in which we glory, as expressive of certain traits, 



94 

qualities and ideas, not confined bj geographical limits, 
which the I^ew Englander carries with him wherever he goes, 
and which have an influence and a power far beyond the 
mountains and the waters, which hem in the land of his ori- 
gin. The Yankee ! you can no more shut him up within ter- 
ritorial limits, than you can place an extinguisher over the 
sun to shut out his rays from the solar system. There is no 
part of the country, there is no part of the civilized world, 
which the Yankee has not penetrated, and he has every- 
where disseminated his Yankee ideas and Yankee notions, 
and had an influence direct or remote, as decided and posi- 
tive, as would have been given liim by a more material 
foot-hold. 

England, the mother countrv, has been more a2:2:ressive in 
her policy, has been more devoted to the acquisition of foreign 
possessions, and by her arms and diplomacy has made herself 
felt in the establishment of colonial governments and military 
and trading stations, in Asia, Africa, Europe and America, 
and in the islands of the sea, from the Pacific on the East, to 
the Pacific again upon the West, until, as has been truly said, 
she " has dotted over the whole surface of the globe with her 
possessions and military posts, whose morning drum-beat fol- 
lowing the sun, and keeping company with the hours, circles 
the earth witli one continuous and unbroken strain of the 
martial airs of England." The Yankee, true descendant of 
the English, but largely modified by his position, training and 
circumstances, less aggressive but more progressive, relying 
less upon military conquests and colonial possessions, but 
more upon the dissemination of his p3culiar and distinctive 
notions of free thought, free speech, and free institutions of 
whatever kind, is exercising upon the condition of mankind 
and governments, an influence more silent and imperceptible, 
but no less positive an' ! wide extended. 

That the Yankee is not wholly free from that desire for 
extended territorial possessions, which characterizes his cous- 
ins over the water, we cannot deny, when we remember his 
acquisition of those barren, inhospitable, if not uninhabitable 
districts on the north of Mexico, and the more recent purchase 



95 

of tiiat desolate, God-forsaken land of fogs, snow and eternal 
winter, heretofore known as Enssian America, but whose 
present sponsors have not jet found a name for its christening. 

We heard something said a few years ago about " leaving 
JSTew England out in the cold." Leave out IS^ew England ! 
Where will you find its limits ? Go into the Middle States. 
You will find the Yankee first among their merchants, law- 
yers, divines, farmers and mechanics. He has emigrated to the 
West, and you will there, too, find him everywhere, in his 
ideas and institutions, in the schools and in the churches, the 
leaven which has been leavening the whole lump. Follow the 
Mississippi to its mouth, and you have not reached the outer- 
most limits of the Yankee land. His intelligence, spirit and 
enterprise have there given him a leading position in trade, on 
the bench, at the bar and in the pulpit. Cross the Eocky 
Mountains and the Nevadas, and you will hear his nasal twang 
among the Sierras and upon the plains, in the cities and in 
the mines, and as elsewhere through this wide extended 
country, so here you will find him the smartest of the settlers 
in the green valleys, the thriftiest miner in the diggings, the 
'cutest trader with the Indians, the most sagacious and suc- 
cessful of the merchants, the most learned and eloquent of the 
divines, the ablest of the lawyers and soundest of the judges, 
the most enterprising and versatile of the civil engineers and 
builders of railways, the ripest of the scholars, the wealthiest 
and most reliable of the bankers, and the most intelligent and 
ingenious of the artizans through all that golden land on the 
sunset side of the continent. 

What then is the territory of New England, and how will 
you leave out the Yankee? Blot J^ew England, if you will, 
from the map of the United States, sink the six New England 
states a thousand fathoms deep, and you have not exterminated 
and you cannot exterminate the Yankee. 

This is the New England of which I speak, and this is 
what I mean by the Yankee. 

What is the origin of his peculiar traits and the causes 
which underlie his character ? Without discussing the influ- 
ence of the Saxon element in our ancestry, or dwelHng upon the 



96 

peculiar religious tenets of the puritans and others of the first 

settlers of New England, or the seventeenth century ideas of 
the days of the English Commonwealth, it seems to me that one 
leading principle, from whatever cause derived, may be 
traced running through the history of the Yankee race, which 
has been a controlling cause in moulding his peculiar charac- 
ter. His principle is a lull and pervading belief in the doctrine 
of human equality, and to this with its results I desire espec- 
ially to call your attention. How this belief came to be so 
firmly implanted in the breasts of our progenitors, whence 
the influences m Inch led them to differ so essentially in this par- 
ticular from the majority of their countrymen in the old world 
would be an interesting field for discussion ; but it is sufiicient 
for my purpose to deal with it as a fact. From some cause or 
other, the early settlers of New England had a most positive 
idea of the^worth of their own individuality and manhood, an 
idea of equality, civil and religious, not then generally held, 
an equality, independent of rank, station or proj)erty. This 
was the idea which first drove the puritans from their homes 
in England in the time of Mary, and subsequently brought 
them to the shores of our own Massachusetts^ to found in this 
western world a commonwealth based upon this controlling 
principle of their lives, to build " a church without a bishop, a 
state without a king." This principle, no doubt springing 
largely from their religious bcliet, engrafted upon their inher- 
ited national characteristics, found expression in that compact 
signed on board the May Flower, that first republican consti- 
tution known to history. 

This then is the peculiar distinctive idea, which to my mind 
underlay, more than any other principle, the whole character 
of the early settlers of New England, the worth of man as 
man, and an entire freedom limited only by the requirements 
of good government, good morals and a due regard for the 
rights of others : that liberty, which Herbert Spencer so well 
defines as the enjoyment of every freedom, not inconsistent 
with every body else's freedom. Not that they had then or 
afterwards arrived at the full meaning and import of this 
principle. They had learned but half the lesson, that half 



97 

which applied to themselves, bat they had notyet learned to in- 
clude others, as the Quakers and the Baptists, who from time to 
time found their way to the new world to join them and their 
fortunes. They had however taken a long step in the right 
direction ; they had begun to work out the problem ; they had 
stated their equation correctly and a correct solution must in 
time follow. While at the present time much of the religious 
element of this puritan idea of equality has been lost sight of 
his descendants have incorporated in themselves, a no less, 
well defined, and, I believe, a much more intelligent idea of a 
true human equality, but an idea which has logically, necessa- 
rily grown out of the principles which our progenitors had 
first adopted ; that the badge of a true manhood is of more 
worth than all the artificial distinctions of society. The Yan- 
kee believes, and always has believed, that he is as good as any 
other man, but, like his ancestors, he has not always learned 
the converse of the proposition, and arrived at the belief that 
any other man is as good as he, but he is fast coming to the 
full solution of the problem, and abetter understanding of the 
principles of a true democracy. 

A distinguished writer, some years since, undertook to define 
democracy. His definition was laughed at, at the time, partly 
perhaps because it was abstract in its terms, but more from 
the application made of it ; but it seems to me that it does 
not inaptly express the idea of the true Yankee. "Democracy 
is the superiority of man over his accidents." Yes, the Yan- 
kee, lives in the full belief that the man, in his true manhood 
is superior to all accidents of birth, fortune or position, 

" The rank is but the guinea's stamp, 
The man's the gowd for a'that." 

It is this belief then in a true native equality, independent 
of these accidents, that constitutes the true Yankee idea. It 
is a part of his being, the groundwork of his institutions, in- 
wrought in his nature, breathed into his lungs from the 
atmosphere of his native hills, his bone and muscle. 

Let us trace for a little the effect of this idea upon the peo- 
ple of New England, and through them upon the country of 
which they form a part. 
13 



98 

The New Englander, and the descendanta and sons of New 
England have, more than otliers, made provision for the edu- 
cation of the whole people. This result should naturally 
follow, for if the whole people stand upon a native equality, 
they should all enjoy equal advantages, educational as well 
as political and religious. Consequently, as a logical deduc- 
tion from this equality, the whole people are to have the op- 
portunities of an education, not the favored few only, but the 
great masses. Hence the people of New England have always 
been an educated people. I do not propose to claim for the 
schools of New England any superiority in themselves, over 
those of all other countries. We are forced to admit that the 
standard of education is not higher, in our schools, colleges 
and universities, but lower than in those of some other coun- 
tries. We have no schools which can compete with Eton, 
and Harrow and Rugby, nor universities which can com- 
pare with some of those in Germany, or with Oxford and 
Cambridge in England, but we have what they have not, a 
school for every child in New England, and wherever the 
Yankee goes, there the school springs up with the church in 
every village and settlement, and no family is so poor that its 
children may not share the advantages of the most favored. 

The Yankee is therefore intelligent. Even his labor is to an 
extent an educated labor. Our artizans may not have the 
patience, possibly not the skill in some special departments 
with those in the old world, but they possess a versatility, a 
power to adapt themselves to new circumstances, and a readi- 
ness to abandon old precedents for newer and better methods, 
which their foreign competitors have not. Their fingers and 
muscles may be less highly trained, but their brains are more 
active and fertile. In the old world you may find some minds 
more highly trained and educated, but the masses are untrained 
and uneducated. Here we have a whole people, who have 
learned to use their brains, and to put their brains into their 
work. This is one of the causes from which, and the means 
by which, the Yankee is giving importance to our country as 
a manufacturing country, and there is nothing, which, in a 
commercial point of view, makes a country greater in the eyes 



99^ 

of the world, than a successful pursuit of manufactures and 
the arts. We have not yet reached the highest stage of 
development in this direction, but are advancing at a more 
rapid rate than any other people. When the Yankee begins 
any kind of manufacture, he is not satisfied to stop short of the 
highest degree of excellence. The importance and extent of 
our mineral and other resources furnish to the Yankee the 
most ample opportunity to apply his intelligence and ingenuity, 
by the application of which he is adding largely to the wealth 
of the country ; and, in all departments of manufacture and 
of labor, you will find him pursuing those branches, which 
require the greatest amount of brain work, and these are the 
branches which uniformly produce the most important and 
valuable results. So marked is this peculiarity of the natives 
of N'ew England, that it has become a necessity in this coun- 
try, in all departments of labor and industry, to employ, for 
the coarser and heavier kinds of work, a comparatively igno- 
rant and uneducated class, not native to the soil ; to emj)loy 
it for that work, which require the greatest expenditure of 
muscular power, and the smallest of brain power. This, too, 
is the work least remunerative, for the proposition is every 
where true, that the more brain entering into the work, the 
higher is the compensation, and the more valuable the result. 
Hence you pay to the architect, the civil engineer, the artist 
and the skilled mechanic in the higher grades of labor, a 
larger compensation than to the mere hewer of wood and 
drawer of water. Brain everywhere, in the markets of the 
world, commands a higher price than muscle, and the price is 
in nearly the same ratio, in which the labor rises above the 
level of brute toil. This argument, based on money values, is 
one that the Yankee well knows how to appreciate. 

This general education of the people, by which the labor of 
New England is a more intelligent labor, is one of the greatest 
results of the ]^ew England principle of equality. The 
Yankee nation is pre-eminently a nation of inventors. 'No- 
where in the civilized world is there so large a proportion of 
the people, who have employed their minds in conceiving and 
working out some mechanical invention, by which some desii'ed 



100 

6nd is more speedily gained, and the labors of the hand light- 
ened. The improvements in agricultural implements, as the 
mowers and reapers, are indigenous, so to speak in this country. 
The sewing machine, which has revolutionized many depart- 
ments of industry, and lightened the labors of thousands of 
households, was the invention of a poor, hard working mechanic 
of our own state, and the numberless improvements in these 
machines, during the last twenty years, are, with scarcely an 
exception, of New England origin. The improvements in the 
manufacture of rubber goods, by which that material is con- 
verted to new uses without number, are, in like manner, 
almost, if not entirely, of I^ew England invention. In the 
whole range of inventive discovery, from the Yankee clock 
to the highest achievements of inventive skill, the Yankee 
stands pre-eminent. " Yankee notion " is but a synonym for 
minor inventions and improvements, and ascending higher in 
the scale, the first practical application of the magnetic tele- 
graph, ending in its greatest triumph, the cable which binds 
the continents, that marriage ring of the old and new 
worlds, are among the grand achievements of New England 
education and inventive skill. Whenever or wherever an 
object can be accomplished by more direct methods, or the 
powers of natui-e can be made to supply the place of human 
muscle, the Yankee is the first to press into his service those 
powers, and make steam and iron do his work. Whatever is 
to be made the Yankee sets his wits to work and makes not 
only 

" The thing itself, 
But the machine that makes it." 

In the matter of public enterprise, tending to the develop- 
ment of the resources of the country, and the creation and dif- 
fusion of wealth, he has outstripped all competitors. His 
Bteamboats, surpassing in capacity and elegance those of other 
countries, ply their way over every navigable water. 
Although the country is still new, and, compared with older 
countries, without capital for extended public works, we have 
already more than 60,000 miles of railways, built at a cost 
of more than $1,500,000,000,— a length of railway more than 



loi 

that of all other countries together. These and kindred enter- 
prises are mainly the result of Yankee thrift, Yankee enter- 
prise, and Yankee education. 

Thus, in all matters of manufacture, internal improvements 
and inventive skill, thrift and enterprise, which, in a material 
sense, are the foundations and corner stone of a nation's 
greatness, this country is without a parallel. The manufac- 
tures of which I have spoken, and which have been well styled 
the back bone of a nation's wealth and prosperity, and the 
inventions and improvements in this and otJier departments 
of human labor, which have enabled us, in a good degree, to 
compete with the cheap labor of the old world, find their most 
congenial soil and have reached their highest advancement 
among the sons oflSTew England. Truly the Yankee " scouts 
the primeval curse. All the powers of nature are his 
servants. Steam performs his labor and the lightnings run on 
his errands." 

A wide difference between the Yankee and the people of 
most other nations, and one of the results of the causes I have 
stated, is found in this, that, while others continue in the same 
condition in life in which they were born, he is ever aiming 
hio-her. He is neither content to remain in that condition in 
life from which he starts, nor that his children should fail to 
rise to a position higher than his own. Even the humblest and 
the poorest, if he possess the spirit of the true Yankee, is 
looking for a more comfortable home for himself, and a higher 
cultivation of the intellects and tastes of his children. Go 
into his house and you will find the food for these in the book, 
the periodical and the newspaper, the picture, the photo- 
graph or engraving, and, upon being let into his secret hopes 
and expectations, you will find some aspirations for a piano, 
and those modern conveniences and appliances, best known as 
the latest improvements. 

He loves his home and the comforts of a home, yet he is not 
so attached to the place of his birth and nurture, that he is not 
always ready to leave it, and build him a new home, and to 
engage in new enterprises. He is nomadic, a wanderer in his 
tendencies, and readily adapts himself to the spot where he 



102 

may'for the time being make his resting place, and singnlar 
indeed will it be, if he do not add to the wealth and intelli- 
gence of the place which, for the time being, is his home, 
permanent or temporary. It has been said that if a Yankee 
should be cast ashore over night on an unexplored island, he 
would be found the next morning going about peddling maps 
of the island to its inhabitants. 

I have thus far spoken of the influence of 'New England in 
matters of material prosperity, growing out of this leading 
principle of human equality, and the intelligence, education 
and thrift, which are, as I claim, its natural result. These 
same causes tend to a wider liberality in matters of religious 
faith. Hence in this country a larger toleration than any- 
where else exists. For, if all men are equal, they can neither 
be accountable to each other, nor to a hierarchy for their 
religious belief. It may be said that our ancestors were 
intolerant. They indeed had about them the taint of the 
intolerance of the old world ; but this their descendants have 
largely out grown, necessarily outgrown, for how can account- 
ability to another be consistent with original freedom. Start- 
ing with this idea, and with a mind and heart enlarged by a 
generous culture, the Yankee is not, cannot be intolerant. 
Hence this country has been, and will ever be the anxiously 
sought, and fondly cherished home of those of all beliefs, the 
victims of intolerance elsewhere. 

But I pass on more rapidlyto consider some of the elements 
of a political greatness, to which we may justly lay claim, 
based upon the same foundation. With this idea of equality^ 
with the consequent intelligence and enterprise, the people are 
more loyal and the government is stronger than one in wliich 
those qualities do not exist. It has been contended by the 
political writers of other countries and indeed by some in our 
own, that only the governments of the few, a centralized gov- 
ernment, as a monarchy or an oligarchy, can be strong ; that 
it alone has the conserving power, which can give strength 
and stability ; that the army and navy must be dii'ected and 



103 

controlled by a central head which alone can give that unity, 
that can make the power and greatness of a nation felt, at 
home and abroad ; that the people must be kept in subjection, 
by an awe of a higher power, overshadowed by the divinity, 
which doth liedge iu royalty ; that, on the other hand, a pop- 
ular government must be weak, as containing in itself the 
elements, which work disintegration at home, and cramp its 
power and influence abroad. 

Our history has shown the contrary, and the last few years 
have given an added lesson. They have shown that, with 
such a people as our institutions can rear, there may be a 
truer and a heartier loyalty, and a consequent greater 
strength in the government, than can be found in one more 
centralized ; that the people can raise from themselves armies, 
unparalleled in numbers, that they can furnish them with sub- 
sistence, ordnance, arms, ammunition, medical attendance and 
hospital supplies, with a generosity, a prodigality and lavish- 
ness of expenditure of men, means and money, such as the 
world has not before seen. These armies have made marches, 
and been transported by railways, in such numbers, at such 
distances and with such dispatch, that no centralized govern- 
ment can furnish a parallel. These armies too have accom- 
plished feats of engineering skill, in the spanning of rivers and 
opening of communications, such as have never been accom- 
plished by the armies of any other nation. Our manufacturers 
of arms and ordnance, our naval architects and builders have 
in four short years surpassed the achievements of all former 
times. In the whole science of warfare they have set exam- 
ples, whicli other governments are only too zealous to copy. 
This, too, under a government which they would call weak ; 
and how shall we account for it ? The government was not 
weak. The government was only the expression and the em- 
bodied voice of a people, loyal to an idea, and the armies 
were made up of a material not elsewhere found. The armies 
were but a part of the people, out of which the government 
itself sprung, and this, with the elements of a Yankee educa- 
tion, intelligence and ingenuity, all animated by a spirit of loy- 
alty to principles, which they believed at stake, distinguished 



104 

thein from other armies. "Whatever was to be accomplished, 
not only in, but outside of the ordinary routine of a soldier's 
duty, there were always to be found men, even in the ranks, 
whose tact, shrewdness, intelligence and former training had 
fitted them to the work ; for in those ranks were men of the 
most varied training, representing all departments of engineer- 
ing and mechanical skill. Whether it was to take possession 
of and conduct a printing office, or to construct or perform any 
work, it was only necessary to call for volunteers. 

Tou will remember an anecdote, published at the time, and 
it is one of many, illustrative of this peculiarity in our armies. 
In the course of one of the memorable marches, our forces took 
possession of a line of railway, the rolling stock of which had 
been injured and broken, as the enemy supposed, beyond possi- 
bility of repair, A question arises whether one of the locomotives 
can not be repaired and " reconstructed," and, as usual, vol- 
unteers were called for. Among the skilled mechanics who 
responded to the call, one man claimed the privilege of direct- 
ing the work, the ground of his claim being that the engine 
was one he had originally built. 

Another incident, which will illustrate the same fact, as 
also another phase in the character of many of the soldiers in 
the ranks of our armies, is related by an officer as having 
occurred in Yirginia, early in the war, and of which he 
chanced to be an eye and ear witness. A clergyman, in the 
greatest trepidation rushes, almost breathless, into the presence 

of a colonel, whose regiment of northern "vandals and 

invaders " had just taken for their quarters the church where 
he ministered. He finds the soldiers busy in taking up and 
removing the carpets of the church, for some reason, which he 
cannot explain to himself, except as he imagines this to be 
the first act of a general spoliation. As soon as he recovers his 
breath, he begs, as a special favor, that he may be allowed to 
remove to a place of safety, the pulpit bible, lamps and 
furniture. Turning his head at the moment, he sees, to 
his horror, a crowd of rough, swarthy, unshorn and belted 
men, who had found their way into the gallery, and were then 
in the very act of opening the organ, and laying their coarse 



105 

hands on the books of sacred music. Almost in an agony, 
he begs the officer not to allow his men to destroy the valua- 
ble musical instrument. The next moment the organ, whose 
safety is the object of such anxious apprehension, sounds out 
the notes of a skillfully executed prelude, and then a hundred 
deep, rich manly voices take up the strain, till the whole 
church is filled with one grand flood of choral harmony, in a 
sacred hymn, sung with all the fervor and more than the 
skill, with which the hardy Ironsides of Cromwell joined in 
chanting their martial airs on the fields of jSTaseby and Mars- 
ton Moor. The agonized look of the good pastor is changed 
to one of astonishment, and that in turn gradually settles 
down into one of devotional calmness. He involuntarily un- 
covers his head, and as the last notes die upon the ear silently 
leaves the place with no further fears of vandal desecration. 

Such were the soldiers which a northern training sent into 
our armies ; not that all were like them, but they were such 
as our institutions tend to rear. Such men need no grand 
central power, no symbols of royalty to force them to act. 
They were men of sufficient intelligence to comprehend an 
idea ; men of moral strength and courage enough to be loyal 
to that idea ; men woh were obedient to orders, not because 
those orders proceeded from any controlling, awe inspiring 
power, but because they were engaged in a work, which their 
hearts approved, and that approval made duty a pleasure". 

Our people have taught too, not only during, but since the 
war, another lesson to the world, bearing on the subject of the 
strength and loyalty of a nation of intelligent and educated 
freemen. The unparalleled expenditure of four years of war 
have created a national debt, such as no nation ever before 
incurred in a like period of time, and the necessary taxation 
to preserve the credit of the government, by providing for 
that debt, has been without a precedent in modern times. 
The readiness and cheerfulness, with which the people have 
met that expenditure, and that taxation, furnish the most con- 
vincing proof, that the people regard themselves a part of the 
government, and that its credit is dear to them as their own ; 
that they have the intelligence to perceive, and the loyalty to 
14 



106 

meet the demands of their country's treasury, and that the 
safety and strength of a state, in a financial as well as a mili- 
tary sense, is not in a centralized government, in kingly au- 
thority, in standing armies and navies, so much as in the edu- 
cation, intelligence and virtue of a free people. 

Again, with such a people as New England institutions tend 
to rear, with intelligence to think and jud^-e for themselves, 
and interpenetrated with a belief in human equality and a love 
of freedom, the wiles of the demagogue and the arts of the 
politician will be comparatively harmless. Men are nothing, 
principles everything. Those wlio are, for the time being, 
their rulers, are only men like themselves, and are well nigh 
powerless, except as tliey are sustained by the hearts of their 
constituents, and represent the people from whom their author- 
ity and right to govern proceeds. A magistrate, who is the 
embodiment of their enlightened conscience, and who truly 
represents their ideas of justice, truth and right, will ever 
command their respect, their liomage, and loyal service ; but 
when he ceases to represent those ideas of justice, truth and 
right, he ceases to be a governor, and fortunate for him will it 
be, if he is not liimself sometimes severely governed. With 
a New Englander, who is indoctrinated with the princi- 
ples and ideas, which tohim are hereditary, which area part of 
himself, his birthright and possession, wealth, or political sta- 
tion, or eminence of whatever kind, are only the pedestal, 
which makes the goodness and the greatness, the mental and 
moral power, on the one hand, and the smallness, the selfish- 
ness and the meanness, on the other, but themore conspicuous. 
Even in the presidential chair, the simple utterances of an 
honest and pure heart, and a noble, good and loyal purpose, 
coming from a plain, awkward man, carry with them a thous- 
and times more weight, than any word that can be spoken by 
one, who, though he may have been a life -long statesman, an 
honored minister in foreign courts, or a cabinet minister at 
home, of dignified and courtly manners, and of commanding 
presence, but who has ceased to be trusted by such a people, 
as truly their representative, is looked upon by them only as 
an " old public functionary," comparatively unhonored and 



107 

tmrespeeted ; more too than any series of Bpeeclies or argu- 
ments, coming from any one, however high bis position, whom 
they believe not to represent their ideas and principles, even 
though surrounded by those, whom the nation delights to hon- 
or, and holding a position which is honored in itself, but not 
by its incumbent, he " swings around the entire circle," and 
leaves the constitution and flag of his country in a hundred 
towns and cities. 

To show still further how such a people regard principles 
more than men, I could point you to one, who, though still in 
the full vigor of his robust manhood, has, for almost a gener- 
ation by his eloquent words in the pulpit and on the platform, 
charmed the ears, and gained a hold upon the hearts of thous- 
ands ; who has drawn alter him crowds of eager listeners, 
delighted to drink in the words of his golden mouthed elo- 
quence; who has long been looked upon as the champion of 
freedom and equal rights, the ideas of the New England 
which gave him birth ; who, during the gloomiest period in 
the history of our late national struggle, did more than per- 
haps any other American to place before the minds of our 
English cousins, what New England believed to be the true 
issues in the great contest, then convulsing the nation. Yet 
all this prestige of eloquent utterance, wide felt influence, 
and personal admiration, could not, when an unfortunate 
published letter furnished his former admirers with reason to 
believe, for the time, whether justly or unjustly, that their 
champion had deserted his post, and taken sides against them, 
retain them as his followers. They at once threw off their 
allegiance to him, and even such an one, like a Sampson 
shorn of his locks, became " like any other man." 

Such men, although not infallible, judge men with more 
correctness and discrimination than others. Because a man 
has excelled in one department, he is not with them necessari- 
ly estimated above his true value in another. He may have 
been a good civil governor and a poor general, a first rate law- 
yer and a fourth rate statesman, a soft hearted philanthropist 
and a soft headed politician or statesman. 



108 

But still further. A people like the people of New Eng- 
land, who have been bred in a practical faith in the doctrine 
of human equality, and have enjoyed the benefit of institu- 
tions founded in that faith, who have shared the advantages 
of a general education, and have reaped the fruits of intelli- 
gent labor in the acquisition of a material competency, are 
the people least prone to vice and crime. Who are the people 
who fill our prisons, jails, houses of correction, and reforma- 
tion ? Is it those who have been educated ? Is it those who 
have acquired skill in the industrial arts ? Is it those who 
are surrounded with the comforts of a home, such as the true 
Yankee makes for himself, or is it the poor, the ignorant, 
the untrained and the homeless ? Let me quote from the last 
report of the Secretary of the Board of State Charities of 
Massachusetts : 

" It is notorious," he says, " that the great mass of criminals 
is made up of the poor, the ill-taught, the ill-conditioned, and 
in a double sense unfortunate." 

" The proportion, in this Commonwealth, of those who can- 
not read and write, among persons capable of crime, is be- 
tween six and seven per cent, while the proportion of crimi- 
nals who cannot read and write, for the last ten years, has 
been between thirty and forty per cent, or more than five 
times as great." 

" Out of the 11,260 prisoners, only 429, or less than one in 
twenty-five, are reported as ever having owned the value of 
$1000." 

And of these criminals, all, who have had the opportuni- 
ties to observe, know how large a proportion were either born 
on a foreign soil, or are the children of foreign born parents. 
I have sometimes thought, that, but for the presence, in our 
community, of a foreign element, made up of the poor, the 
unskilled, the ignorant and degraded^ who have not been 
trained and educated under our New England institutions, our 
criminal courts would be almost without occupation, and our 
prisons, and correctional and reformatory institutions almost 
tenantless. 



109 

In speaking of this foreign element, which has come to our 
shores, poor, unfortunate, and ill-conditioned, let me not be 
misunderstood. Their unfortunate mental, moral and social 
position is less their fault than the fault of the institutions, by 
which they have been surrounded, institutions based upon 
inequality, tending to the elevation of the few, the depression 
of the many, the influences of which they have either lacked 
the opportunity or the strength to overcome or control. 
Rather let us honor those who have broken away from those 
institutions, if they have done it, as many have, with the de- 
sire and purpose to avail themselves of the advantages which 
are here opened to thera, where they can acquire a compe- 
tency for themselves, and a better education and training, and 
a fuller enjoyment of the rights of manhood for their child- 
ren. It is not in accordance with the genius of our institu- 
tions that any of them should be neglected, but that we 
should provide for them the same advantages that we enjoy. 
Our country is wide enough for all, our industries can provide 
labor for all, we have the means and institutions to educate 
all, and under these they will speedily become assimilated, 
and an integral, component part of our population, and the 
future of our country will see no worthier sons and daughters 
than the descendants of those whom we now characterize as 
our foreign population. I repeat that the true I^ew England 
idea of human equality demands, and the genius of our insti- 
tutions founded upon that idea, provides, that equal advanta- 
ges to learn and labor be extended to them ; and that they 
shall fully share the same civil and political rights, that we, 
the foreigners a few generations farther removed, ourselves 
enjoy. 

But to show the full effect of this central principle, under- 
lying the Yankee character and Ne\Y England institutions, 
and the mode in which it is working towards a fuller and 
higher development of the true greatness of our country, it is 
necessary to glance briefly at the changes in the condition of 
our country during the present decade, without doiug which 
this view would be wholly incomplete. 

I have said that New England has been devoted to the idea 
of human equality. Would that this had been equally true 



of the wliole country ! Then would the bloody records of the 
last few years never have been entered upon the pages of our 
country's history. Then would the precious lives, lost in that 
greatest of modern wars, still have been with us to gladden 
our firesides and our homes. But there was a portion of our 
country, which, only in a limited sense, entertained and cher- 
ished this idea. The holding of a large class disfranchised 
for no fault of theirs, kept in ignorance by local laws, and 
ao-ainst their will, was an anomaly in a government founded 
upon this principle, which I have attempted to state, an in- 
consistency, to which an intelligent people could not always 
be blind. It might be excused on the plea of necessity, the 
blame might be shifted to the shoulders of the early settlers of 
Yirginia ; it might be argued that it was a matter within the 
province of local law, with which we of New England and 
the JSTorth had nothing to do, that it was within the verge of 
State rights, with which the other States could not interfere, 
that it was a part of an institution, recognized by the consti- 
tution, to which we were all subject, and to discuss which 
even was revolutionary and incendiary. But these pleas, ex- 
cuses and arguments, while they might sometimes convince 
the ;i"eason, could not quiet the conscience. The whole heart 
conscience and hereditary instincts rebelled, and would not 
be quieted by reason and argument. We might attempt to 
stifle the conscience, or in the political phrase, " conquer our 
prejudices,"' but from the lowest depths of our moral sense, 
our most earnest convictions and inherited political faith, 
went up a mighty protest, which drowned the voice of the 
arguments of statesmen and politicians. We were like the 
great astronomer, who when compelled to abjure his belief in 
the earth's motion, to make solemn recantation of his opin- 
ions, and kneeling on the earth to swear upon the Holy 
Evangelists never mol'e to teach such heresies, on rising from 
the ground, was forced by his convictions to exclaim, " Still 
it does move." So were we forced by a higher than human 
law still to cherish the prejudices we had so many times con- 
quered. The world has moved, and again revolves around 
the central sun of human rights and human equality. 



Ill 

This war was a war of ideas, in that it was a conflict be- 
tween the principle of liuman equality and a system of ine- 
quality. The institutions of the Southern and late Slave 
States were founded upon a difi^erent basis, from that upon 
which were founded those of the Nortliern and 'New England 
States, While in both sections the dogma that " all men are 
created fi-ee and equal " was recognized as an abstract propo- 
sition, in the Slave States it was practically repudiated, or at 
best regarded but as a " glittering generality," not applicable 
to a large proportion of their population. Classes existed, 
founded on the accidents of color, birtli, and property, acci- 
dents above which the man was not allowed to rise superior. 
These distinctions, growing naturally out of the slave system, 
a system of inequality, permeated to a greater or less extent 
the whole social fabric, and the difference between the social 
and political status of the owner of a plantation, and that of 
the poor white, was as distinctly marked as the difference be- 
tween the whits and the negro. In some, in most of those 
States, the elective franchise, the privileges of education wore 
restricted, and the lower tiers of even the white population 
had little inducement and less opportunity to rise to a higher 
level. They were, not in name indeed, but in effect, the 
subjects of those above them, influenced and governed by 
them, as truh^ as is the vassal by the lord. The discussion of 
the doctrine of human equality threatened in its effects to sap 
the foundations of their patriarchal and oligarchic institutions. 
The two sections were at variance on these social and political 
questions, which undeiday their respective institutions. The 
northern elements were gaining in power, and the only means 
to check the aggression of free ideas was isolation, was seces- 
sion. Hence the war, and the result ol that war, in the abol- 
ishing of slavery, and the breaking down of this remnant of 
feudalism, with the other results which will follow hard after 
it, in the infusion of a northern population, the spread of 
J^ew England ideas and enterprise, the more equal distribu- 
tion of wealth, and a better and more general education of 
the masses, will prove the first great step towards a homoge- 
neousness of population, and an equality in social and politi- 
cal relations, which will make this, in a higher and better 



112 

sense than ever before, a truly great people. Such is to be the 
final result of that war, the crowning achievement of ]^ew 
England ideas. New. England education, and New England 
training. In this way we are truly founding a State, a great 
Commonwealth. Lord Bacon says : " To found a State is the 
highest service man can render." The great statesman of 
ancient Greece taught that to make a small state a great one 
was the highest success in philosophy and in government. We 
are working out both results. Where we had an aggregation 
of States, at variance in their ideas and institutions, with a 
real antagonism under a superficial and precarious union, we 
shall soon be one United State, founded upon the New Eng- 
land idea of a true equality. Where we had a country, wide 
in its domain, of resources unparalleled, and of capabilities 
immeasurable, but dwarfed by the presence of social and po- 
litical elements, at variance with the principles upon which 
the nation was founded, we shall soon rise to the magnitude 
of a State, with resources and capabilities developed as largely 
as its domain is wide extended. To this end is the nation fast 
being reconstructed. The manner of its political reconstruc- 
tion is to be the work of its statesmen, but a greater reconstruc- 
tion has been and now is going on, a moral and social recon- 
struction, which will make the whole country what xhe North 
has been, the home of intelligence, the home of enterprize, 
the home of industrj^, the home of the oppressed everywhere, 
the home of a great, a happy and truly free people, living 
under a government, based upon the New England idea of 
equality, which knows no distinctions of birth, nation, color, 
or condition, a government from the people, by the people, and 
for the people, under which the American Republic, long before 
another century shall have unrolled before the eyes of our 
descendants its grand panorama, pictured all over with the 
great events and varied vicissitudes of a nation's life and 
history, having attained a power which no man can now 
measure, and achieved a future which no imagination has yet 
conceived, will, as we believe, take and hold the first rank 
among the great nations of the earth. 



113 

The regular exercises being completed before the dinner hour 
had arrived, the intervening time was occupied in listening to 
remarks from Rev, David Pease of Ashfield, now about 80 years 
old, and formerly Pastor of the Baptist Church in Conway, and 
from Rev. Edward W. Root of Westerly R. I. and Hon. Caleb 
Rice of Springfield, Mass., both natives of Conway. 

Rev. Mr. Pease remarked in substance, as follows : 
Though not a native of Conway, yet, having spent nearly 10 
years of my ministerial life here, and this being a native tov/n of 
a part of my family, I am happy to be recognized by, and asso- 
ciated with the sons of the good old town of Conway. My first 
acquaintance with this place was in the year 1818. Very few of 
those then in active life are now living to witness this happy 
gathering. Since that time great changes indeed have taken 
place. Then we were, as a nation, under the curse and disgrace 
of a slavery-sustaining government. But now the flag under 
which we are gathered, waves over a free land. Many of our 
sons, who went forth to sustain the principles of freedom against 
a daring and wicked rebellion, have fallen in battle. But the 
object for which they bled and died, is accomplished, and their 
names shall be held in grateful remembrance. G-reat has been 
the change too in public sentiment on the subject of religious 
liberty. If we go back 100 years the change is still greater. 
Then it was no uncommon thing, in this and other states, for the 
property of dissenters to be taken for taxes to support the church 
established by law. In a town adjoining this, 400 acres of land, 
which had been thus taken, were afterwards restored by order 
of the king of England. I do not doubt the sincerity of our 
fathers, who thus infringed upon the rights of conscience. They 
verily thought they were doing God service; but they "knew 
not what manner of spirit they were of" Happily all this has 
passed away ; and all are now allowed, without molestation, to 
worship God according to the dictates of their own consciences. 
Mr. Pease then related the following anecdote illustrating the 
ideas of religious liberty which existed a century or more ago, 
A citizen of Rhode Island, having occasion to pass through a 
town in Connecticut, not far from the line dividing those two 
states, noticed a gathering of people, and rode up to inquire the 
cause. He learned that they were whipping a man, and on en- 
quiry ascertained thatthe man's offense was a matter of conscience. 
tFponthis, raising himself, he exclaimed, "Why, you serve God 
here as if the Devil was in you!" Then, putting spurs to his 
horse, he rode as if for his life until he crossed the State line. 
Mr. P. closed by expressing the hope and the belief that people 
had a better spirit in them now, a spirit more in accordance with 
the principles of the gospel. 

Rev. E. W. Root's Remarks. 
Your President is quite arbitrary but we must submit. You 
will not, however, expect much of a speech ft'om me, called upon, 

15 



114 

as T am, without a moment's preparation to " talk against time." 
Still no citizen of Conway can have listened to the exercises of 
the day without having some thoughts suggested. 

The name of one of the first settlers of Conway, Alexander 
Oliver, mentioned by our historian, called up an incident which 
occurred at Oxford, Ohio, about 10 years ago. His daughter, 
Mrs. Symmes, then between 80 and 90 years old, was staying at 
the house of her brother, several years younger, born in Ohio. 
Mrs. S. was a native of Conway. She was telling me that she 
had attended a school taught by my grandfather. She described 
the place where she lived in Conway, and I asked if it was " Hard 
Scrabble." She thought it was, Doct. Oliver, her brother, who 
had listened to the conversation, began to laugh, and said, " I 
always thought there was a difference in the family, but never 
could account for it till now. I was not born in Hard Scrabble." 
Both the Doctor and his sister were persons of great physical and 
intellectual vigor, and I thought, if such were the original settlers 
and their immediate descendants, we had reason to be proud of 
our ancestry. 

There are some still with us who have done so much for this 
town, that we shall gladly honor them to-day. We all think 
with gratitude, of that select school so ably taught for many years 
by one of our citizens. Under him, I remember the Orator of the 
day read eleven books of the ^neid in eleven weeks. Such les- 
sons were too long to be heard in school hours, and many 
hours out of school were given to them. I was with him and tried 
to keep up ; but I assure you it was hard work, I remember well 
the time that I attended that school. The teacher asked me if I 
wished to study Latin. I had not thought of it before. But after 
consultation with my father, I began it. That sent me to college. 
If there is any one man to whom Conway owes a debt of gratitude, 
that man is Dea. John Clary. 

No citizen of Conway can forget the influence of the gospel 
ministry. I can just remember that pioneer pastor and venerable 
man, John Emerson. He died after he had been preaching the 
word of life and laying the foundations of future prosperity for 
more than 56 years. I can just remember the large concourse at 
his funeral and that my father lifted me up and let me look into 
the coffin. Eev. Edward Hitchcock was colleague with him for 
four or five years, who afterwards became Professor of Geology 
and President of Amherst College, and there gained a world-wide 
reputation. Rev, Daniel Crosby followed him, an earnest, elo- 
quent and successful preacher of the gospel. All these have 
passed away, having done their work, and done it well. 

Mr. Root then paid an appropriate tribute of commendation to 
the former and present pastors of the Congregational church still 
living, saying that he did not speak of the pastors of the Baptist 
church on account of his limited acquaintance with them. He 
then spoke of the Sabbath School here, of which he was a mem- 



her, and of Capt. H. Billings, his teacher. " One Sabbath," said 
he, " Capt. B. seemed more than usually earnest. After exhort- 
ing us all in his own impassioned way, he turned to me and said 
you must be a christian. Your great grandfather prayed for you 
on his death-bed. I was there and heard him pray for his chil- 
dren and all his descendants. You must be a christian. The 
early settlers of this town were men of faith and prayer, and all 
now on the stage are enjoying the rich benefits of their labors 
and their prayers. With such an ancestry, and such advantages, 
we ought to do much for the honor of God and the good of man. 
Let us pay to the future the debt we owe the past. 

Hon. Caleb Rice remarked as follows, viz. : 
Ladies and Gentlemen : 

Although a native of Conway, I have been absent so many 
years that most of this assembly are strangers to me. It will 
not be supposed, therefore, that I am acquainted with your pres- 
ent condition, or can relate any facts which have transpired within 
the last fifty-years, that would now interest you. I can distinctly 
remember all the first settlers of that part of this town long 
known by the name of Broom shire. Israel Rice, my grandfather, 
and William Warren were the two men with their wives, who 
first settled northerly of South River in Broomshire. That settle- 
ment was in 1763 or 1764. I have heard my grandfather say 
there were but 33 settlers before him in town. 1 well remember 
Timothy Thwing, father of Mr. Thwing, now living and said to 
be the oldest man in town, and also many others of that genera- 
tion. I well remember another individual who had been some- 
what of a public man, at least he had kept a public house, who 
was one of eight persons (so says tradition), who were the orig- 
inal proprietors of Deerfield Southwest, that being the name by 
which Conway was known previous to the act of incorporation. 
He had the reputation of being a lazy, shiftless, good-natured, 
easy man, whose property wasted away for want of proper care, 
and he died a pauper. , -j 

The celebration of Independence on the 4th of July, 1804, was 
an occasion which called out the inhabitants second only to this 
day. It was a celebration of both political parties in one house 
at the same time. The parties were then known as Federal and 
Republican, the terms, Democrat and Democratic not having then 
become the watchwords of party as they have since. It was 
agreed to go into the old meeting house, which then stood in 
that well-known and long-to-be-remembered spot, Pumpkin Hol- 
low. What was said by the respective orators could be heard 
by all present ; but when they left the house to eat and drink^, 
as was the fashion of that time, they separated, so that each 
party should eat and drink his own political food and beverage. 
The Orator of the Federal party was Rev. Samuel Taggart, a 



116 

Congregational clergyman of Coleraine, and then member of Con- 
gress from the old County of Hampshire. The Orator of the 
Kepuhlican party was Elder Josiah Goddard, a Baptist clergyman 
of Coijway. My father was one of the Marshals on that occasion, 
and wore a pair of black striped satin pantaloons (a little extrav- 
agant, 1 think). About eight years afterwards I had made from 
the remains of the pantaloons a vest, which I have kept until the 
present time, and which I have on to-day in good condition for 
the next centennial one hundred years hence. 

It may not be improper to allude to one of Conway's distin- 
guished sons, Chester Harding, who is now no more, except in 
memory, whose career through life is worthy of imitation. He 
was born in 1192, in the southeast part of Conway, near Whately. 
The spot where his father's house stood is probably unknown. 
It was even lost from his memory, as he informed me. Born in 
obscurity and indigence, he became by his industry and persever- 
ance, an artist of no ordinary reputation, as the portraits of many 
of the public men in this country and in England fully demon- 
strate. 

The exercises were interspersed with several pieces of instru- 
mental music, well selected and well performed by the Shelburne 
Falls Cornet Band, and the Greenfield Drum Corps, which added 
much to the interest of the occasion. 

The exercises at the grove being now completed, the proces- 
sion re-formed and marched to the tent in which dinner was pro- 
vided. On the way, and also while at the table photographic 
pictures of the procession and the scenes presented were taken. 

A tent sufficiently large to accommodate one thousand persons 
had been erected on a level piece of ground, belonging to 
Capt. Charles Parsons, near the Central Village. At the entrance 
of the tent was the motto, " Our prescription for physical debil- 
ity." Over it, at several points, waved the National Flag. On 
entering, there was seen over the speakers stand the motto, 
" We cherish the memory of our fallen Patriots," and on the 
opposite side, "We honor our living Heroes." The Dinner was 
provided by Amos Stetson, of the Conway House, tickets of 
admission, being one dollareach. One thousand tickets had been 
provided, but these were found insufficient to supply the demand. 
The Divine blessing was implored by Eev. Thomas Shepard, D. 
D. of Bristol, K. I., formerly pastor of the Congregational church 
in Ashfield. The Dinner was got up in fine style, abundant in 
quantity and excellent in quality. The ticket-holders did ample 
justice to it, and yet the quantity left was almost as great as that 
which was consumed. The skill and good taste exhibited by 
Mr. and Mrs, Stetson in making the arrangements for dinner 
deserve much praise. 



lit 

The literary part of the entertainment was commenced by the 
President of the Day, announcing as the first sentiment, 

" The Day we Celebrate.'''' 

This was responded to by the reading of the following line8 
by R. A. Coffin : 

Hail to the day that now heralds the ending 
Of Conway's first century of fast flowing years, 

Gladness and tenderness gracefully blending 
While we commingle our smiles and our tears. 

Here now we stand at the opening portal, 
Of a century to come, and take one more glance 

Back to the century now made immortal. 
Then welcome the years that are now to advance. 

Lo, as we look, see the swift generations 

Coming in rapid succession to tread 
Here in our footsteps, and filling our places, 

When we are gone to the realm of the dead. 

Welcome are ye to this land of our fathers. 
To all its bright skies, and enrapturing scenes ; 

Welcome to treasures that memory gathers, 
And lessons of wisdom that history gleans. 

Welcome to all the enjoyments that cluster, 
Where Sabbaths in beauty smile over the land, 

To hopes all immortal, that glow with freshlustre 
When earth is receding, and death is at hand. 

Hark, to the rush of the iron horse tramping 
O'er the wild mountains, far, far in the west; 

Cities spring up, where but lately encamping, 
The Indian lay down on his bearskin to rest. 

Who shall declare what the far future ages 
Shall bring to our land in the strength of her might? 

Who shall proclaim what the unwritten pages 
Yet may record in their letters of light ? 

Come then, ye millions who are to succeed us, 
Spread o'er the land, and its treasures explore ; 

God, who so graciously offers to lead us, 
Guide you and bless you, till time is no more. 

Mrs Mary B. Crittenden, a lady who was born Ang 24th, 
1167 and who, therefore, on the day of the celebration lacked 
but 66 days of being 100 years old, was then -troduced to the 
audience. Mrs. Crittenden was married at the age of 18 to 



118 

Medad Crittenden and lived with him as his wife 72 years. Mr 
Crittenden died about 10 years ago. Five generations of the 
tamily are now hving. A photograph has recently been taken 
presentmg them at one view. 

Our Centenary and our Centenanan. The seed sown, the plant raised, and the 
flower that bloomed are this day in their full fragrance, preserved, to be gathered 
by the Great Reaper. We rise to do her honor. 

The audience then rose and sung Old Hundred. 

The Religious Institutions of Conway. Planted with the planting of the town. 
Ihe hrst pastor was literally a forerunner,— John preaching in the wOderness. 

Responded to by Rev. Elijah Cutler as follows : 

Rev. Elijah Cutler's Remarks. 

Our Saviour bestowed great honor upon his forerunner. Be- 
cause John the Baptist sustained so elevated a character, and 
stood at the threshold of the dispensation of the Gospel, pro- 
claiming and witnessing its advent, Christ said that no greater 
prophet had arisen. Rev. John Emerson stands before us for 
more than half a century in this high character and position- 
building on foundations not his own, and yet his own, for he 
preached Christ in what was then a wilderness, and in the infan- 
cy of this town, and in its youth, and even up to its maturity he 
"divided the word of truth," witnessing the power and value in 
shaping even the temporal fortunes of a rising settlement. John 
Emerson literally "bent the twig" of our century tree. And 
whatever of grateful shade or varied fruitfulness it exhibits to us 
to-day, is due in some noticeable degree to his judicious and 
prayerful labors as a minister of the Gospel, and "preacher of 
righteousness." He was settled by the town, and for life, and 
for fifty-seven consecutive years he broke to this people the 
bread of life. He "catechised" the children. He superin- 
tended their day school studies,— the duties of " school commit- 
tee devolving largely and sometimes wholly on him. He bap- 
tised more than 1200 of infants and adults, thus earning the title 
some of us would think, of " John the Baptist," as well as " John 
preaching in the wilderness." 

He preached as it is supposed about 3500 written sermons ; 
and he followed more than 1000 of his people to the grave, only 
one or two of those who settled him being among the living when 
he died. 

In his half-century sermon, he says that for fifty years, the 
whole time in which he had been unable to perform the duties of 
the ministry did not amount to one year. The day before he 
died, being in his 81st year, he went to the church prepared to 
preach. But another clergyman being providentially present, 
he did notofiSciate. But he died with the harness on. How 
much do we owe to this good man, who worked so lon^ and so 



119 

well for the religious institutions of this tox\Ti, and through them 
for its highest and best interests I His grave stone stands in 
yonder burial place, but if you seek for his monument "look 
around you." Let this town to the latest generation cherish the 
memory of their first minister, as not only a forerunner but under 
God a founder and builder in their prosperity.* 

For this prosperity in the past, Conway owes much to a 
succession of excellent and devoted ministers ; some of them very 
eminent ones. Some are with us to-day, whom we gladly wel- 
come and honor. Of the pastors of the Congregational Church, 
of whom only my knowledge permits me to speak, Edward Hitch- 
cock, afterwards President of Amherst College, is remembered 
by many of the older persons present as the colleague for four 
years of the first pastor. He was not less eminent _ here as a 
preacher and pastor, than he was afterwards in the scientific and 
christian world ; and with this joint pastorate commenced the 
em\nevii\j fiourishing period in the religious history of this town. 
Kev. Daniel Crosby succeeded Mr. Hitchcock, and during his 
ministry the revivals of religion with which God had begun to 
bless this town continued and increased in depth and power. Mr. 
Crosby afterwards became pastor of the Winthrop Church, 
Charlestown, and died in the service of the American Board of 
Commissioners for Foreign Missions. 

Rev. M. G. Wheeler, now of Woburn, Mass., followed Mr. 
Crosby, and his ministry of seven years many of those present 
will recall, as they see and hear him to-day. Now, " the old 
meeting house," having fulfilled its mission, gives way to the 
present more modern one. 

Rev. Samuel Harris, now President of Bowdom College, Me., 
whose necessary absence we all regret, succeeded Mr. Wheeler, 
and his eminently able and successful pastorate of nine years, 
most of those present will recall as another period marked by 
continuous revivals of unusual power, reaching and pervading 
all parts of the town, and all ages and classes. Mr. Harris 
ministry is held by all who were at that time residents of Con- 
way, in grateful and appreciative remembrance,— as is Rev. Mr. 
Adams' more recent pastorate of thirteen years. The latter pe- 
riod embraces also seasons of precious revival and the eventful 
times of the first years of the " civil war." 



* The following incident illustrating both the conscientiousness and the wit of 
Mr. Emerson, has been communicated by Prof. E. S. Snell, since the celebration : 

When Mr Emerson informed Miss SabraCobb, his intended wife, of his purpose 
to go to Conway, she could not bear the thought of going into the depths of the 
wilderness, so far out of the world, and tried to prevail on him to find a place near- 
er Boston, and give up, for her sake, the engagement he had made with the Con- 
way settlers. He would not hear to it, and expressed his determination in these 
^ords •— " I cannot give up the corn for the sake of the Cobb." It appears that 
•he yielded, and the good maa enjoyed corn and " Cobb " too for many years. 



120 

Of other faithful and devoted laborers in the vineyard of the 
Lord, connected with the Baptist Society,* and of the many em- 
inently pious and useful men and women who have worked and 
worshipped among these hills, I cannot now speak. Many of 
them have had a " good part " in the religious prosperity of this 
favored town. They have been "laborers together with God," 
and servants of Jesus Christ the Great Master Builder, who is 
"Head over all things to his Church." 

3Ir. President : — From the religious institutions of Conway we 
turn with grateful acknowledgment and thanksgiving to God, for 
what he has wrought through them thus far. To them under 
God we point our children as the key to the past, and the hope 
of the future prosperity of this town. And, building on the same 
foundations of prophets and apostles, Jesus Christ being the 
chief Corner Stone, let it be the hope and prayer of us all that 
the religious history of Conway's second century may fulfill in 
still larger fraitfulness, the good and happy omens of this first 
century. 

Our Uducational Institutions — ancient and modern. 

Responded to by Dea. John Clary. 

I have the impression, Mr. President, that the ingenious Yan- 
kee, who invented this sentiment, designed to give suflScient 
scope to his subject to accommodate any respondent. But I shall 
take the libeHy to ignore so vast a theme, and only give you a 
bib of egotism. Since I have been called out as Teacher in 
former days, allov/ me to say that I regard myself as a kind of 
middle man to-day, standing here between my teachers and my 
pupils. And when I repeat with profound respect such names, 
now before me, as Caleb Rice, Austin Rice, Harvey Rice, and 
Eugene Field, men from whom I received the first rudiments of 
education, you will judge that it was not their fault, if I have not 
succeeded in my vocation. I would not have it understood, how- 
ever, that Pace was the only or chief mental aliment I imbibed in 
my youth ; yet I am free to say that then, as now, it was regard- 
ed as an article, very pleasant to take, and exceedingly 
nutritious. 



* Dea. R. A. Coffin, of the Baptist Church, has kindly furnished the following 
information concerning some of the pastors of that church : 

Rev. Calvin Keyes was pastor for more than twenty ^ears. He was ordained in 
1799. He was a man of limited education, but a faithful servant of Christ. His 
labors were blessed to the conversion of many souls. During his ministry about 
130 persons were added to the church by profession. 

Rev. Josiah Goddard was a man of good education and strong mind, whose influ- 
ence was widely felt for good, not only in the church, but in the community gen- 
erally. 

Rev. David Pease was pastor nearly ten years, though not consecutively. When 
he came here, he found the church in a low and disorderly state. By the blessing 
of God upon his labors, order and harmony were restored, and a goodly number 
at diflferent times added to the church. 



But with still dieeper interest and more fender emotionS; I am 
allowed, with cordial greetings, to meet many of my former 
pupils, whom I had not seen for a long time, not now boys and 
girls, as they were regarded more than a quarter of a century ago, 
but fathers and mothers, and some of them, grandparents even, 
sustaining important and responsible positions in society. And 
of the five hundred and more, who were under my care during 
the twenty -nine consecutive terms of our select school, I can 
recall but one who turned out badly. He, after attending a few 
weeks, deserted, leaving his board and tuition bills unpaid, and 
the last I heard of him he was in prison. And I think I do but 
obey the impulses of human nature, when I say I am proud of 
the relation I sustain to so many of these honorable men and 
women to-day, and while constrained reluctantly to omit the 
names of the female worthies, who have adorned our institution, 
let me, as a specimen of the whole designate a few, who have 
been conspicuous in the interesting exercises of this occasion, 
such as David 0. Rogers, William Howland, George Howland, 
Edward W. Root, and Charles B. Rice, and I have only to add 
These, these are my jeivels. 

Our Great- Gh-andfathers:— Than- houses, household furniture, and social 
etiquette, one hundred years ago. 

Responded to by Abner Forbes, substantially, as follows : — 

" Patrick," said the Court to a witness, "are you of lawful 
age?" " Shure, I am," said he, " for I was jist twenty-one, last 
Michaelmas eve, at tin o'clock, exactly, yer honor, and I will 
swear to that on the Holy Book." "But how can you be so 
exact ? You cannot be so from your own knowledge." " And 
was I not there meself, at the very time ? and who should 
know better than I ?" 

Now, Mr. President, I do not pretend that I was here one hun- 
dred years ago, but I was here more than three-quarters of a hun- 
dred years ago, and I have a vivid recollection of many things 
that existed, and many incidents and events that transpired more 
than seventy years since. 

Persons that have lived three score and ten, or four score years, 
are a kind of connecting link between two ages, and their memo- 
ries are depositories of many facts and circumstances, which will 
probably never be recorded in history, but which might be inter- 
esting were they preserved for after generations. 

A large portion of Conway one hundred years ago was an 
unbroken and primitive forest. The oak, the ash, the chestnut, 
the cherry and the pine, and many other trees, which would now 
be very valuable for timber, were then often destroyed by fire to 
get rid of them. More than nineteen-twentieths of the dwell- 
ings were constructed of unhewn logs, with rough stone chim- 

16 



122 

neys. Two or more beds, with very likely a trundle-bed were 
crowded into the only room in the house. The furniture, of 
course, was very rude, and but little of it ; yet every family had 
a great and a little wheel, and generally a loom ; for in those 
days people in the country wore but little cloth, if any, that was 
not of home manufacture. For many years after frame houses 
became common, no carpet was seen on any floor in the town. 
Crockery ware was but little used. Trenchers and wooden plates 
were for common use, and pewter ones for extra occasions. No 
plates of any kind were used at breakfast by most of the peojJle. 
The steak, ham or fried pork was cut into mouthfuls by the cook, 
and put into a platter containing gravy. This was placed in the 
center of the table, and from it the food was conveyed to the 
mouth by a fork, while bread was sopped in the gravy, as each 
one's taste dictated. A pewter cup or a wooden can was placed 
on the table filled with some kind of beverage for common use. 
Sometimes when Several ladies met together they indulged in the 
luxury of a cup of tea, if they could do so without its being pub- 
licly known — tea being regarded in those days as a contraband 
article by all true patriots. Silver four-tined forks were unknown, 
and steel three-tined ones had no precedent except in the sceptre 
of the ocean- god — the trident of Neptune. Pianos and melo- 
deons were not in existence. A guitar and possibly a harp, 
might have been found in the parlors of the wealthy in our large 
towns.* 

The furniture of Madame Emerson, who came from Boston, 
produced a great sensation in Conway. She had a table-cloth for 
her table ; probably it was the only one in town. It was much 
talked about. A boy who had heard of the table-cloth but had 
never seen it, called at Mr. Emerson's one day about noon to re- 
turn a borrowed half-bushel. The first object that met his eye 
was the famed table-cloth. So occupied were his thoughts with 
this strange vision, that instead of doing his errand correctly, he 
exclaimed, " Mr. Emerson, I have brought home your table- 
cloth." 

Wheel carriages were but little used by the early settlers. Hay, 
grain, &c. were generally moved on sleds, even in summer. In 
winter, lamilies often went to meeting and to parties on ox-sleds. 
Riding on horseback, in the every day vocations of life, was com- 
mon with both sexes. The farming utensils then used would be 
objects of curiosity now. None but an old person can realize the 
change that has taken place in respect to manners, customs and 
etiquette in the course of the past seventy years. 



*For many years after its settlement, the utmost that Conway could furnish in 
the musical-iustniment line, was a violin, then called a fiddle, with a sturdy negro 
to perform on it. This instrument was considered almost indispensable at balls and 
festive gatherings gejierally, and thenegio's services were in very frequent demand- 

(EdO 



123 

Mr. President : — I will conclude by relating an incident, in 
which Mrs. Emerson's table-cloth figured somewhat strikingly. 
There was a meeting of the Congregational Association at Kev. 
Mr. Emerson's, and among the ministers present was Rev. Mr. 
Taggart of Coleraine. He was a very corpulent man, and very 
eccentric in his manners. He wore no suspenders, and hence be- 
tween his vest and his waistband there was often quite a space, 
through which his linen had a tendency to protrude. Dinner hour 
arrived and Mr. T. was seated at the table, which was covered 
with the ample snow-white table-cloth — a luxury to which he was 
not accustomed. He soon became deeply engaged in conversa- 
tion ; not so deeply, however, but that after a little time, he per- 
ceived something white in his lap. Not thinking of the table- 
cloth, and supposing that his own linen had become disarranged, 
he proceeded to adjust, and thus connected a portion of the table- 
cloth with his own'clothing. Dinner having been finished, Mr. 
Emerson requested Mr. Taggart to return thanks. ■ He according- 
ly arose from the table and stepped back, when forthwith a sad 
crash ensued. Tureens, plates, platters, &c., moved from the ta- 
ble with the unlucky table-cloth, and fell. Mr. T., however, was 
equal to the occasion. He deliberately proceeded with the relig- 
ious- service, and at the same time, as deliberately released the 
ta^ -loth from its connection with himself. The effect produc- 
jhis scene on the minds of his brethren in the ministry may 
•e easily imagined than described. 

h-eat Grandmothers.— If the traditions from the great grandfathers are to be 
., they are not excelled in personal charms, or in expansiveness of attire, 
le unique grotesqueness of capital adoruments by their great granddaugh- 

Kesponded to by Rev. Gteorge M. Adams, formerly a minister 
in the town. 

Mr. President : — When we get together on such an occasion 
as this, it is well to lay aside any extreme stiffness and reserve, 
and to enter heartily into the pleasant thoughts and associations 
of the hour. I love to preach the gospel, but I did not suppose 
you would ask me to preach to-day. So I came here ready to be 
a friend among old friends, without any special professional re- 
straint. But really I was not prepared for such a post as you 
have assigned me. You require me to talk about the beauty of 
the young ladies, about feminine attire and accomplishments. 
Why, sir, what should I know about these things ? There must 
be some mistake. You meant this sentiment for one of these 
young men near me. 

There is only one way, as I see,'^in which I can* meet your com- 
mand, and compare old times with new in respect to matters of 
beauty and dress. And that is by reasoning on the question ; 
and taking the argument from analogy, I conclude that the senti- 
ment here advanced is true. No doubt the great Jgrandd^ugh^ 



124 

ters are like their great graudmothers, for Conway was always 
conservative. The people are not easily turned about. I made 
one or two attempts of that kind myself, but soon learned that if 
anything new was to be introduced, it must be a manifest improve- 
ment. This was no place to try experiments. 

Our historian, this morning, alluded to one of these failures. 
Some of us thought that the pleasant village beyond the church, 
sometimes known as South Village, but usually by a less euphon- 
ious name, deserved a better designation. So, with prolonged 
conference and cogitation, we studied up a name which seemed 
to be "just the thing." It was graceful and brief, and had its 
historical significance. In order that it might be launched upon 
its course with the greater success, we kept the name secret till 
the fitting time. Then, I think, it was on the fourth of July, we 
had a gathering of the children, and music, and a procession to 
the hill overlooking the village. There we had speeches, and an 
ode, written for the occasion ; and so with fitting formalities, the 
name that we expected should become historical, the name 
" Church Green " was announced in the midst of cheers and re- 
joicing. But I was grieved to notice a few days after, that when 
I was talking with the best friends of the new name, if they said 
" Church Green," it was with a smile, but if they were in down- 
right earnest, they said — the less euphonious name. And now, 
as I understand, " Church Green" is almost forgotten, and the 
old name holds undisputed sway. Another fact illustrating the 
conservative character of Conway occurs to my mind now. A 
new comer into town, on attending the church noticed that the 
people turned around and faced the choir during singing. This, 
he thought, was disrespectful to the minister. After setting his 
neighbors the example of facing the minister a few Sabbaths, one 
of his neighbors said to him, on leaving the church, " You will 
find it pretty hard to turn this congregation round." 

Mr. President : — I believe I have confined myself to the sub- 
ject assigned me. From the known conservative character of 
this people, I am warranted in believing that the great grand- 
daughters are very much like their great grandmothers. 

The Daughters of Comvay. — First and foremost in all deeds of benevolent enter- 
prise. To resist their appeals, requires more nerve, if possible, than to resist the 
fascinating power of their pei'sonal charms. 

Prof. E. S. Snell of Amherst College, whose wife was a native 
of Conway, briefly responded to this sentiment, bearing his testi- 
mony both from observation and experience, to the excellent char- 
acter of Conway girls, and to their efficiency and success as 
teachers, wives and mothers. He thought Conway had furnish- 
ed ministers and other professional men with some of the best 
wives in the country. She had good reason to be proud of her 
daughters. 



125 

O^vr distinguished guest and recent tovmsmanfrom the " Huh : " — He has overcome 
all obstacles through assurance, iusuranee and finance, and is always in advance. 
Success has been his motto aud fortune his friend, whether usina; turbine wlieels iu 
South River, or controling propellers in Long Island Soirnd. Unlike many other 
Generals, he has always retained command of his own forces. 

Gen. James S, Whitney, the gentleman (a former resident 
of Conway,) designed to be complimented by this sentiment be- 
ing absent. Dr. E. D. Hamilton was called upon to respond. 

He expressed regret, that the audience were obliged to accept 
of a substitute so very incompetent to fill the void occasioned 
by the absence of the Gen. Nevertheless he felt happy to bear 
testimony to the obligations, which the citizens of Conway owed 
to Gen. Whitney for the starting and successful development of 
the various enterprises by which he contributed so greatly to the 
prosperity of the town during the seventeen years of his resi- 
dence with us. In the building up. of a manufactory, which un- 
der his own management was highly successful, but which pass- 
ing into other hands, struggled through a period of disasters 
from fire, and business misfortunes, till it has come into the hands 
of the present enterprising owners, the Messrs. Tucker & Cook, 
where it is flourishing more successfully than ever. In origin- 
ating the idea of a Mutual Insurance Company, for which he ob- 
tained an act of incorporation, and carried, with the help of oth- 
ers into successful operation, — till it now aifords protection 
against fire to nearly four millions of property in the various 
towns in the Commonwealth. He was a prime mover and princi- 
pal agent in procuring the establishment here of a Bank, which 
has contributed much to the prosperity of the town. In the 
building of our Academy, (which has now become a public High 
School, ) he was zealously active and a liberal contributor to its 
funds — and in various other enterprises of which it is not necessa- 
ry here to speak, he bore an active and prominent part. He was 
moreover honored at sundry times with an election to the Legis- 
lature and to the convention for revising the constitution of the 
State. And since his removal from our town he has filled with 
honor to himself various offices of trust and responsibility under 
the national government ; and had he been permitted to have 
been present with us, as he designed, on this joyous occasion, the 
citizens of Conway would have tendered him their most earnest 
and cordial greetings. 

The Legal Profession. — A product, for the development of which the soil of 
Conway was always too poor ; but many si;ch i^lants have been propagated here, 
which, on being transplanted to a richer and more congenial earth-bed made rapid 
growth, and expanded to large and beautiful proportions. 

William Whitney, Esq. of New York, responded. His recol- 
lections of the town were all of a youthful character, as he left 
when he was yet a boy. He suspected that he was called up 
more to be looked at than to be heard, and they would think that 
the best part of his speech would be when he got through. In 



126 

his youthful days he had a a great reverence for lawyers, and used 
to think that the head of Squire Clark contained more wisdom 
than all other heads. He alluded to a somewhat sarcastic remark 
about lawyers, that their first object was to " get on," next, to 
" get honor," and last to " get honest." The lesson which Con- 
way teaches to her sons is, to reverse the order of that arrange- 
ment. The people of Conway were in the habit of living in such 
brotherly love, that a lawyer could not live among them, but had 
to be transplanted to some other locality in order to succeed. 
New England sent out to the world men, and could answer in the 
language of the Roman matron, " These are my jewels." So it 
was with Conway, so with Franklin County. She had not 
wealth, but she was the mother of heroes. It is by reason of the 
sons of New England, that the country is advancing in all that 
makes her good and great. Her soil, her noble mountains, her 
varied scenery and rich landscapes, and her climate, all teach in- 
dustry, fidelity, morality and religion. 

On motion of Rev. Charles B. Rice, the audience here rose and 
gave three cheers for " Nathaniel Boy den, a native of Conway, 
the true Union man, of North Carolina," who maintained his 
principles boldly and unwaveringly through the whole of the late 
rebellion. 

The Business Metifrotn Conway, ivhoin other fields of enterprise have achieved fame 
and fortune. — They furuish demonstrative evidence of the truth of the principles 
in which they were educated, viz., industry, frugality and temperance. 

Rev. Robert Crawford, D. D,, responded to this sentiment, and 
spoke of the business habits and sound principles of Conway 
men, as illustrated by several who did business in North Adams 
while he was resident there. 

The present btisiness interests of Conway. 

Responded to by Rev, J. J, Townsend, pastor of the Baptist 
Church. 

Mr. President : — I did not come here to make a speech. In- 
deed, it was not expected that I should speak ; but my friend, 
Mr. Tucker, who was appointed to respond to this sentiment, has 
just now requested me to appear as a substitute for him. The 
manufacturing interests of Conway, it is true, are not so various, 
as in many other places. But we may surely claim for this de- 
partment of our industrial pursuits, that it does its work well. 
While the busy hum of spindles, and the sprightly steps of at- 
tendants indicate the energy which characterizes the varied de- 
partments of these interests, so that the hungry are fed, the naked 
clothed, and the disconsolate made happy, the work of our man- 
ufacturers is not confined to mill and operatives. Schools are 
made more inviting, and churches more effective in their 
work, and houses of worship better filled. There is beauty and 



127 

power in a symmetrical character, wherever found ;— whether 
wandering in heathen wilds and bearing blessings as he goes, or 
in the dens of vice in large cities, seeking out the vile and the 
forsaken, or, with an increasing abundance at his disposal, he is 
employed in educating the masses to habits of industry and vir- 
tue, and omitting not, in his increasing gains, the mental and 
moral improvement of the individuals employed, giving all to feel 
that they are men. 

We note with gladness the acquisitions of the past. We gaze 
and wonder as we behold the monuments reared by the hand of 
industry and still commemorative of the power of industry. The 
orator might warm with his theme, and the poet, in flights of 
fancy, with his beautiful delineations, enchain the multitude that 
listen, and even invoke our own tribute of just appreciation ; but 
for our manufacturers we claim more than graced the Spartan an- 
nals or decorated Grecian greatness, the employment of our 
greatest industrial pursuits, our manufacturing interests, for the 
development of an energetic, noble, and Christian manhood. 

TJie Goqxl.-K two-edged sword, efficient when wielded by the hand of a val- 
iant soldier of the cross. 

Kesponded to by Rev. M. G. Wheeler, a former pastor of the 
Congregational Church. He spoke of the pleasure with which 
he remembered his former residence in this place, and of the in- 
fluence which the gospel had exerted here in forming character 
and strengthening principle. He was ready to say amen to every 
sentiment which tended to fix in our minds the moral reputation ot 
Conway He then alluded to the improvement in church archi- 
tecture since his residence here, and spoke of the old Congrega- 
tional church edifice as tasking a miuister's power to the utmost 
to make himself heard in it. He said that his own health be- 
came seriously impaired in consequence of the effort required to 
make his voice fill a house so ill adapted to public speakmg. 
When it was proposed to erect a new meeting-house, the project 
was strongly opposed by one of the prominent officers of the 
church ; but soon after, the good man having occasion to speak 
in the house himself at a Sabbath School celebration, found so 
much difliculty in making his voice heard, that he withdrew his 
opposition, and entered cordially into the arrangements for erect- 
ing a new house that would not kill ministers. When the ques- 
tion came up where the new house should be placed, there was 
much division of opinion, and for a time the harmony of the so- 
ciety was seriously threatened. But at length a compromise was 
efi-ected, and all, or nearly all agreed to have the new house plac- 
ed on the spot where it now stands. An equal difl-erence of 
views, in some communities, would probably have produced a 
permanent rapture. 



1^^ 

We hmior our living Tiet-oes. 

This sentiment was responded to by Mr. S. H. Lincoln of Plain- 
field, as follows : 

Mr. President : — I am happy to be here to-day to mingle in 
the hearty congratulations and festivities of this occasion. This 
will stand in history as one of Conway's brightest days, — a day 
of jubilee, when nought but kind words arc spoken, a kind wel- 
come given to all, and kind feelings, by all reciprocated. This is 
the day when sons and daughters return to the parental roof, and 
parents and children embrace each other in the arms of affection. 

To the good people of Conway let me say, I am most happy to 
be one of your guests, happy to meet all, but especially happy to 
meet my brother soldiers. Many bright anticipations, deferred 
during the bloody strife, have been realized, as others, I under- 
stand, are soon to be.* 

We meet to-day, brother soldiers, as first we met on old Camp 
Brigham, true friends as we marched to the sound of the bugle. 
True friends, did I say ? Why should we not be ? We have la- 
bored and slept, we have marched and fought together, we have 
hungered and thirsted together, we have often sung and prayed 
together, and as some had fallen by death-hail or disease, we have 
mingled our tears together. The country ought to feel proud of 
the mothers of Conway, who have borne such sons, " the flower 
of the church and the town," who responded so cheerfully to our 
country's call, and in every emergency proved themselves " true 
as steel," 

But, beloved, while we live to come back to home and friends 
again, we would not forget the fallen heroes, who are sleeping 
their last sleep on the hill-tops, the hill-sides, and in deep ravines. 
They sleep amid the cane-brakes, and in the cotton-fields by the 
rice-swamps and in the pineries, and under the live oaks, where 
southern moss hangs in rich festoons around their graves. They 
sleep under the branches, where the "night-watch," the "mel- 
low horn," and the " mocking-bird " sing their morning and eve- 
ning hymns. They sleep where the white and sweet orange jes- 
samines and the white bell flowers of the beautiful magnolia shed 
their sweet perfume, and where the palmetto casts its shadows. 
They sleep in vine-clad graves, where the myrtle twines and the 
hawthorne blossoms. They sleep by the bridle-path, and wherev- 
er our gallant army have marched. They sleep in rivers broad 
and deep ; for how many a noble craft, heavily freighted, has 
gone to the river's bed I They sleep amid the weeds and coral 
of the deep blue sea. 

My brotliers, as we live, let us so live, tliat when we no more 
shall march on battle fields where slaughtered thousands lie and 
where the soil is enriched by the blood of the noble and the- 

^Alluding to a happy maiiiage anticipated ou the coming dny. 



129 

brave, we may pitch onr tents on the banks of the " Eiver of 
Life," where ck^shmg steel aud cannon's angry roar where 
screaming bombshells aud dying groans are no more heard. 

The nwniory of the Fallen Heroes in the war of tJie late Mebellion. — Imperisliably em- 
balmed in the hearts of the living generation. May it be transmitted in a suitably 
imperishable monument to the generations uf the future. 

Eesponded to by the Baud playing a Dirge. 

Tlie May Floiver. — That precious bark from Leyden, laden with the hopes of a 
great race, some of whose descendants are among the honored inhabitants of Con- 
way. 

Responded to by William Howland, Esq. of Lynn, a descend- 
ant of John Howland who came over from England in the May 
Flower, lie spoke of the perseverance, courage and fidelity to 
principle, which marked those noble men and women, who lauded 
at Plymouth in 1620. He had often thought what would have 
been the effect ou the character of their posterity if the Pilgrims 
had landed on the coast of one of the Southern rftates, instead of 
the sterile shores of JNew Englaud. Had such been the case, the 
whole history of our country would probably have been different 
from what it is now. The hardihood, resolution, and energy 
which marked the Pilgrims, were fostered by the circumstances 
in which they were placed and the intlueuces which surrounded 
them. And the character and habits ol subsequent generations 
were, in a great degree, moulded by those circumstances and in- 
fluences. And thus, partly througli the example of their ances- 
tors, and partly through other influences, physical, social and 
moral, the sons of New England had become strongly marked 
by self-reliance, independence, adherence to principle, and that 
firmness of purpose, which "will either find a way or make 
one." 

Conway Bice. — Tall in the sheaf, fair in the hull, and sound in the kernel, (Col.) 

Responded to by Col. Austin Rice of Conway. After acknowl- 
edging the compliment which the sentiment contained, he spoke 
of the interest that the early settlers had in the matter of subsist- 
ence beyond what is felt now. It was a serious question to them 
what they should eat. They had to work for their living. Out 
of the necessity of the case, in part, there grew the habit of dili- 
gence in labor. Industry, rather than any of the other 
peculiarities that had been referred to, was the most marked char- 
acteristic of the early inhabitants of Conway. There were few 
idlers among them. They had no eight-hour or ten-hour law. 
They worked from morning till sunset, and milked their cow, if 
they had any, after work was done. He expressed a fear that the 
present tendency was to depart too far from their habits of labor- 
ious application, and concluded by recommending to the younger 
people, that they should all be ready to enter upon some useful 
worJ% and determine to be diligent in it. 
17 



130 

Sobert Hamilton. — One of the first settlers of Conway ; a man of magnificent 
proportions, said to have Aveighed 400 pounds. He is represented here to-day by 
his great grandson, Edward Hamilton, Esq. of Boston. 

Responded to by Edward Hamilton, Esq., of Boston. 

Mr. President: I do not know why I am called onto respond to a 
toast in memory of my great-grandfather when he has so many 
other descendants present abler to do justice to his memory, un- 
less it be to show how our race is deteriorating. But sir, I assure 
you it is not without sensibility that I stand once more on the 
soil of old Conway the home and burial place of so many of my 
ancestors and relatives. 

Eobert Hamilton who was one of the first settlers of Conway, 
was one of those men, who, with a brave heart, and stalwart 
arm, came here to settle in the wilderness and clear for himself 
and his children a home ; how well he performed his part in the 
early settlement of the town is a matter of history ; his children 
have been respected as some of the most valued citizens of this 
town. 

Of one thing I am certain : no one can deny that my ancestors 
and relatives both in Conway and Deerfield have physiced more 
of the citizens of those towns than have the relatives of any 
other person. My grandfather. Dr. William Hamilton, his broth- 
er the lamented Dr. George Washington Hamilton, and your res- 
pected fellow citizen. Dr. E. Darwin Hamilton, here present, were 
all of the medical profession. 

My grandfather, Dr. William Hamilton, died in the midst of a 
useful life at the early age of 39 years, no man of his generation 
was more honored or beloved. 

For myself sir, I am a cross between Conway and Deerfield, 
my mother was a native of Deerfield ; I recollect her often tell- 
ing an incident which occurred when she was a girl, which I will 
relate to illustrate the influence of my grandfather. 

The old town of Deerfield had a cannon taken from the French 
and Indians ; as new towns were formed out of the territory of 
Deerfield, they claimed ownership in part in the old cannon, and 
on public days there were frequent contests between Deerfield 
and the neighboring towns, for the possession of it. On one of 
these occasions the cannon was missing from Deerfield, and early 
in the morning its echoes were heard from Conway ; the young 
men of Deerfield mustered in battle array, mounted and armed, 
and in military order marched to Conway to recapture the can- 
non or perish in the attempt ; the men of Conway equally stern 
in the resolve to keep the trophy, at least for that day, had drag- 
ged it into the public tavern, and, fully armed, had barricaded 
the windows and doors ; the Deerfield men surrounded the house 
and demanded the surrender of the cannon, their request was re- 
fused, they then gave the besieged five minutes to deliver the 
cannon, at the end of which time unless it w^as delivered, they 
proposed to ^ttaoJ^ tjio citadel ; before that time arrived ho we voi> 



131 

Dr. William Hamilton rode tip and asked the cause of the excite- 
ment, and when informed asked for time to enter the house and 
see the Conway men, which request was granted ; and the result 
was that the cannon was delivered up ; the Deerfield men agree- 
ing not to fire it within their town limits ; on their return to the 
village of Deerfield the women and maidens lined the street, and 
strewed flowers and green branches before the victorious braves ; 
and in the evening they celebrated the event by a grand ball in 
the hall of the Deerfield Hotel. 

Mr. President, after a residence of fourteen years in the town 
of Taunton, my fither returned to his native town, and with his 
brother Benjamin F. Hamilton and others, established the first 
Factory for the manufacture of Cotton cloth ever started in this 
place. I recollect he purchased all the water power on the river 
from the bridge for several miles up stream, for the sum of five 
hundred dollars. 

Sir, I am glad to be with you to-day to add my tribute of re- 
spect to the memory of those who have gone before us, and to en- 
courage those who are to come after us to emulate the virtues of 
the founders of this beautiful town ; I am glad to once again 
greet so many friends and relatives here on this occasion, and es- 
pecially my grandmother's brother, Arimiah Thwing, the oldest 
man in Conway ; a more honest man never lived, he is an honored 
son of a revolutionary sire who was one of the first settlers of 
Conway. 

Mr. President, I have enjoyed myself so well to-day, that I 
give notice of my intention to be present at the next celebration, 
one hundred years hence. 

The name of iJiKiwgs.— Honored among the ancients, and abundantly Bustained 
in reputation by the great grand children. 

Kesponded to by Charles H. Billings of Troy, N. Y., as fol- 
lows : 

" The name of Billings, honored amongst the ancients, its reputation is abund- 
antly sustained by the great-grandchildren." 

Mr. President: — Ladies and Gentlemen, "Speech is silver. 
Silence is Gold," but the sentiment just offered calls me out, 
and you must be content with the cheaper metal. I thank you 
Sir for this kind and complimentary allusion, to my family and 
name. 

I can heartily say it is good to be here — to meet with yo u as a 
child on our Mother's birth-day — gathered as we are from all 
parts of the land to look upon these hills so fresh and green. 
When has dear old Conway ever looked younger than to-day ? 
although a century old counted in years. Ou yonder hill where 
stand the poplar trees like sentinels keeping watch over the sa- 
cred spot our family so loug enjoyed and loved as their home, 
and from wheace parents and grandparents passed peacefully in- 
to their rest, I early learned to respect and venerate age, and 



132 

on this anniversary so full of interest to us Gonwmjians, our 
Mother commands our love and respect. I feel truly grateful 
tor this opportunity of gathering with you amid scenes so dear 
and hallowed, meeting these friends of blood and friends of time, 
to mingle our congratulations and wish our mother " many re- 
turns of to-day." 

I did not come here to speak, I hurried away from the care and 
confusion of business to sit with you in my native air, the green 
earth beneath us. the blue sky above us, these grand old hills on 
every side. And let us mutually thank God, that here in this 
moral atmosphere we had our birth and education. Let us re- 
member the Fathers with gratitude for the Cliurch and School 
house we em'oyed from childhood, they established for us. 

Physiologists tell us that in every seven years we undergo an 
entire change. It is now more than seven yeai's since I left you, 
and while it is true that 1 stand here physically changed, I clasp 
my hand upon a heart beating as warmly and kindly in sympathy 
with all that pertains to the best interests of my native village 
as when my home was with you. As long as life lasts Conway 
will be my " Mecca," and thither I shall delight to make my pil- 
grimage as often as possible. Of the thousand faces gathered 
here, many are familiar, some are changed. Youth has turned 
into manhood, time has changed us all somewhat, with its weight 
of cares and trials. 

In the clear sunlight of to-day's pleasure, there is mingled 
with many of us, the shadow of sorrow and change. We miss 
many familiar faces we were accustomed to meet in the years 
long past, " gone to the bourne whence no traveller returns." 

In my own family how great the changes. 

" O Time aucl change ! 

How strange it seems, with so mnch gone 
Of liie and loVe to still live on ; 

Ah, brother! only I and thou 
Are left of all that circle now. — 

The dear home faces whereupon 
That fitful firelight paled and shone, 

Hence forward, listen as we will, 
The voices of that hearth are still ; 

Look where we may, the wide earth o'er, 
Those lighted faces smile no more ; 

Yet Love will dream and Faith will trust, 
(Since He who knows our need is just,) 

That somehow, somewhere, meet we must. 

So fragrant are these memories of our ancestry, beloved and 
honored, that I love to hold them up, and I would learn the les- 
son their lives and examples have so aptly taught. I deem it fit- 
ting that we who survive should offer a tribute of gratitude. 
And we cannot feel that they are far from us to-day, " Since 
near at need the angels are." 

I cannot close without offering to you my old friends and 
neighbors the need of praise you so richly deserve. We whose 
homes are scattered in all the States, thank you for this occasion, 



133 

for this Tiearty welcome home. You who have labored so enthu- 
siastically to make this celebration a success may well be proud 
to-day 

For this stirring music, this bountiful repast, let me thank you 

from the heai't. 
And now farewell. 

With trusting hearts let us go forth to duty, and when another 
Centennial comes round and children's children gather in our 
stead, may we all be found safe within the eternal home which 
knows no time or change. 

At the close of his remarks Mr. B. and his brother H. W. 
Billings, Esq. of Conway, sung the " Old Fireside." 

The auric ii^(W>i%.— A name wortby to be remembered for the hio-h moral worth 
of those who have borne it, as well as for the eminent success m busmess enter- 
prises of some who have gone from us, and for the distinction m promment walks 
of life which they have attained. 

Hon. W. Griswold of Greenfield, who married a daughter of 
the late Freeman Clark of Bath, Maine, a native of Conway, re- 
sponded. He remarked that by some mistake or oversight in his 
early education, he never attended Dea. Clary's school ; and so 
he did the next best thing, by marrying a Conway girl. He said 
the Glarks were a name of which Conway might well be proud. 
Some of them had attained to an eminence in professional and 
business life, which was an honor to any town. He then paid a 
brief tribute to the memory of his father-in-law, Freeman Clark, 
lately deceased. He remarked that his life was eminently suc- 
cessful. Leaving Conway a poor boy, by his industry, persever- 
ance and integrity, he placed himself among the leading, success- 
ful business men of the city where he lived, and where he died. 

But the crowning excellence of his life was his simple, pure 
humble, Christian character. It was this which guided and con- 
trolled all his actions. His benevolence and kindness to the poor 
were proverbial, and many were those whom he had befriended 
in life, who were stricken with sorrow at his death. In short, 
his whole life proved that the truest success, even in this world, 
is that which is built upon the principles of the Gospel. 

The seed raised in Conway and sown elsewhere— It has taken deep Root and will 
yield a glorious crop for the harvest of time. 

Responded to by Rev. Edward Root of Westerly, R. I., a na- 
tive of Conway, as follows : . . . ,. „r, -x -u + 

Mr President .-—The remark of our friend Mr. Whitney, about 
"getting on," "getting honor," and "getting honest" re- 
minds me of a brief address to one of the literary societies of 
Yale Colleo-e by Dr. Lyman Beecher. He quoted the advice of 
an Indian at a funeral" out v/est," who, being called upon to say 
something, could only get out, " I advise you all to go home 
and be honest." " Young gentlemen " said Dr. B., " I advise 



134 

you all to be honest. If you intend to be ministers, be honest; 
study only for the truth. If you become doctors, be honest. If 
you become lawyers, be honest. I believe there can be such a 
thing as an honest lawyer. But if you are to be politicians, the 
Lord have mercy on you !" 

I believe in honesty first, and then " getting on " and " get- 
ting honor " will take care of themselves. 

It is quite late and I will only allude to Dea. Clary's commend- 
ation of his pupils, which we have just heard. Such commenda- 
tion from such a man cannot fail to be grateful to us. We are 
just beginning the second century in the history of this town. 
The delightful scenes of this day will soon be over, and this large 
company will be scattered never to meet again on earth. But we 
shall meet again with that great company which no man can num- 
ber, at the final day. Let us all so live that we may gain from 
the lips of the Judge a far higher commendation "Well done." 

TJie memory of Cyrus Rice, the first settler of t]ie town of Conway. He is represent- 
ed here in the person of a grandson. 

In response to the sentiment last offered, Mr. Rice said, he did 
not know, until so informed on yesterday, that to him belonged 
the distinguished honor of being a grandson of the first settler in 
Conway. 

He stated he had not the opportunity, when a child, of acquir- 
ing any very definite knowledge in regard to his ancestors, for 
the reason that his mother died when he was but four years of 
age. In consequence of this sad event — sad for him — he had 
the misfortune to be placed here and there in different families, 
who took very little interest in his early education or welfare. 
He could hardly say, therefore, that he had been brought up at 
all, but like Topsy, supposed he "growed." He had been 
taught, however, that all mankind descended from Adam, and 
this was about all he knew of his ancestry. He was still in 
doubt, whether his descent from the first man, or from the first 
settler in Conway, was the greater honor. " Be this as it may," 
said he, " fifty years have now elapsed since he ceased to be a 
resident of Conway ; yet he still felt proud of his native town 
and of its enterprising sons and fair daughters. He believed his 
grandfather must have been a man of unusual coux-age and en- 
terprise to have led the way into an unbroken wilderness. 
And doubtless, he was " a heavenly-minded " man, for he set- 
tled on an exceedingly high hill. If he could return to earth, 
and join us on this festive occasion, what think you would be 
his surprise to behold the marvelous changes which a century 
has wrought. May his memory ever be honored as one, who 
manfully encountered the hardships of a pioneer-life. And let us 
trust that he is numbered "among the just made perfect" — a 
settler in the Better Land. 

" We stand to-day as it were," said Mr. Rice, " between two 
centuries — two vast ocean billows of time, one of which has brO' 



135 

ken oa the shores of eternity, and now sends backs its broken 
ripples laden with many pleasant memories ; while the other is 
majestically advancing toward us in the distance, fringed^ with 
the light of many pleasing hopes and anticipations. It is m the 
record of the past, that we may, to some extent, at least, read 
the unwritten record of the future. And may the record of Con- 
way for the next century, when written, be a brilhant one, wor- 
thy of a still nobler manhood." 1. 1 . 11 
In conclusion, Mr. Rice expressed his sincere thanks to aU 
his friends in Conway for the cordial welcome they had given him, 
and for their kind and generous hospitalities. 

E P BuRNHAM, Esq. of Saco, Me., was then called on by the 
President to make some remarks, he having formerly been a law- 
yer in Conway, though for only a short time. . , , . 

His remarks were in substance as follows :— I resided m Con- 
way only about six months during a part of 1850 and 1851, and 
have not since been in the town until the present occasion. Hav- 
ing received an invitation from the Committee, I have come from 
Maine to attend your Centennial, and am much pleased that I 
have done so I miss many of the old faces, and see many new 
ones Though not a " Son of Conway," I claim, as a " Son of 
Maine" to be a grandson of Massachusetts. Until 1820, Maine 
was a part of your Commonwealth. The names of many of the 
towns in Maine were given in honor of Massachusetts' worthies. 
I will instance Hancock, Bowdoin, Sumner, Strong, Brooks, War- 
ren, Sedgwick, Otis, Cushing, Phillips, Elliot and Dexter. A 
a-entleman, now living in my own town, represented the town in 
the General Court, priorto the separation. Maine if closely con- 
nected with Massachusetts in business relations. May her peo- 
ple ever be united with those of the Mother State m the bond of 
friendship. 

Here the public exercises of the occasion closed. 

The best of order prevailed through the day. Not an instance 
of drunkenness, quarrelling or rowdyism occurred ; and it was 
remarked by several persons that they had not heard a profane 
word from the lips of any one in the course of the day. A serene 
and chastened gladsomeness seemed to be the prevailing feeling 
amonff the multitude who were present, ; a state of feehng natu- 
rally prompted by the blending of the tender and the joyous as- 
sociations which the occasion suggested. _ 

In the evening there was a social gathering of the citizens and 
natives of Conway at the Town Hall. Here some hours were 
pleasantly spent in cordial and unembarrassed interchange of 
thought and feeling, in mutual congratulations and sympathies, 
and in the renewal of old acquaintances and the formation of new 
ones. It was a delightful seasoa, and will be long remembered 
by many. 



(^ 



And thus closed the first centennial celebi'atlon of the incorpo- 
ration of Conway. May the second and all succeeding celebra- 
tions be equally happy, and equally marked by order, decorum, 
and g-enerous kindness, and by full and heartfelt recog;nition of 
obligation to God, and of dependence on an all-sufficient Saviour. 
And may God in mercy grant to us who shared in these pleasant 
exercises, reminiscences, and congratulations, 

That, when the dial-plate of Time 
Marlts nineteen hundred sixty-seven, 
Then, in a purer, holier clirae, 
We all raav sing the sons^s ot Heaven. 



'^ E 907 



i 



